Chapter 185: Chapter 179: Full-scale war breaks out, referendum results announced


    On February 6th, after breaking off diplomatic rtions with the Russian Empire, the Ind Nation prepared its army and navy in the Far East for a possible war, while dying the war as much as possible to give the military more preparation time.


    As per international conventions, two countries usually undergo two steps before waging war: dering war and severing diplomatic rtions. Since the Ind Nation did not dere war on the Russian Empire, officials of the Russian Empire, including Tsar Nichs II, thought that the Ind Nation was only threatening and probing, not daring to wage war.


    This mentality affected the preparation of the war in the Far East to some extent. Many Russians believed that the Ind Nation could notunch a war on its own, so the war preparations were slow.


    At this time, arge part of the Russian Empire’s Pacific Squadron was still anchored in the outer harbor of Port Arthur. The alert level of warships remained the same as before. Although a decision had been made to strengthen security measures, it had not been fully executed yet.


    Although Governor of the Far East, Alekseyev, had learned about the breakdown of negotiations between the Ind Nation and the Russian Empire, he did not take any urgent measures to address the situation.


    He blindly believed that the Ind Nation could not wage war, so even a few hours before the war broke out, he confidently told General Witteveen, the Chief of Staff of the Pacific Squadron, “War will note.”


    But just a few hours after he said that, on February 8th, 1904, the Ind Nation deployed its fleet andunched a surprise attack on the Russian Empire’s Pacific Fleet in the outer harbor of Port Arthur.


    At this time, the Russian Far East Fleet was divided into three parts: one part remained in divostok, and another was stationed at Incheon Port of Korea.


    The one stationed at Port Arthur was the main force of the Pacific Squadron,manded by Admiral Tasker of the Russian Empire.


    The Ind Nation’s n for the surprise attack was also divided into three parts: a small fleet headed north to guard against the Russian fleet in divostok to reinforce, another fleet consisting of six cruisers, including a cruiser produced in Australia.<div>


    The target of this fleet was the Varyag and Koreets in Incheon Port.


    As for the rest of the United Fleet, their target was the main force of the Pacific Squadron at Port Arthur Bay.


    At around 10 pm, the Ind Nation’s United Fleet sessfully arrived outside Port Arthur. It was already dark, and the sky was pitch ck due to the winter night.


    The Russian Pacific Fleet waspletely unprepared for the arrival of the Ind Nation fleet.


    This naturally determined the fate of the fleet. Despite the many trends of warfare, Governor Aleksei of the Far East and Commander Stark of the Pacific Fleet ignored the situation, arrogantly believing that the Ind Nation could notunch a war and took no measures to strengthen their defenses.


    To avoid rming their adversaries, the Ind Nation first dispatched a few torpedo boats to quietly enter Port Arthur.


    However, the ships anchored at the outer harbor noticed something was wrong and turned on searchlights to find the torpedo boats.


    But that still couldn’t stop the action of the torpedo boats. In just a few minutes, several torpedo boats fired dozens of torpedoes at nearby battleships and cruisers. Although more than half missed, about ten torpedoes hit nearby Russian warships.


    The most heavily damaged were the nearest Peresvet-ss battleship and the gship of the Pacific Fleet, the Crown Prince.


    It is worth mentioning that when the roar of torpedoes and the sound of Russian warships firing back reached the shore, General Tasker and others were still puzzled.


    Some people at the banquet spected that warships were firing salute shots, while others thought it was a military exercise, which made the fleetmander Tasker somewhat hesitant and credulous.


    It was not until someone reported that the warships were attacked that Tasker was shocked and hurriedly ended the banquet.


    This surprise attacksted several hours. In the end, the Ind Nation fleet had to retreat due to the strong fortifications and coastal guns of Port Arthur.


    However, the attack was not unsessful, as the Pacific Fleet’s Peresvet-ss battleship and Tsesarevich-ss battleship were seriously damaged and unable to participate in the battle in a short period.


    Other warships, including two cruisers and several small warships, also suffered various injuries, and theirbat power was greatly reduced.


    The most sessful sneak attack was on the small fleet at Incheon, where due to the advantage in numbers, the Russian warships were no match for the Ind Nation’s fleet. After some fighting, both warships were sunk.


    When the news of the fleet being attacked reached the Russian Empire, it was already noon on the second day.


    Russian officials were furious, and Tsar Nichs II smashed several ornaments.


    Soon after, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs received a deration of war from the Ind Nation’s ambassador.<div>


    The Ind Nation’s exnation was that their telegraph machine broke down, which dyed the deration by one day.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Russian Empire replied with disdain, disgust, and hatred, “Your country’s shameful remarks are nauseating, and the Russian Empire will make you pay.”


    Since the ind nation attacked the Russian Empire’s Pacific Squadron on February 8th, the war between the Russian Empire and the ind nation broke out in full scale the next day, February 9th.


    As a war between one of the old powers, the Russian Empire, and the emerging ind nation, it was a major event throughout the world.<div>


    After the war broke out in full scale, the Far East once again attracted the attention of the whole world.


    Just like the previous crisis, the British Empire and the United States stood on the side of the ind nation, while the German Empire sided with the Russian Empire.


    In order to win over and maintain rtions with the Russian Empire, France had no choice but to stand on the side of the Russian Empire as well.


    Most other countries were basically just watching the war with a spectator mentality, as the mes of war were in the Far East and could not touch Europe at all.


    Australia and New Zend quickly dered neutrality on February 9th.


    Apart from selling armaments to these two countries, Arthur really was not interested in the war.


    After all, for Australia and New Zend, the ongoing referendum was the most important issue of concern.


    However, this could be considered a good thing, as the attraction of the war in the Far East meant that New Zend’s referendum did not attract attention, and Arthur’s role in the process was gradually forgotten.


    On February 15th, 1904, the voting process for New Zend’s referendum came to an end and entered a month-long counting phase.


    Due to the possibility of hundreds of thousands of votes, New Zend had specifically borrowed hundreds of officials from neighboring colonial powers to help with the count.


    The reason for not borrowing people from Australia and the British Empire was that these two countries were also part of the protagonists of the referendum, and allowing them to help with the count would inevitably lead to criticism.


    Indeed, thanks to the hundreds of officials borrowed from the colonial powers, the counting of the referendum votes could have taken even more time.


    After a month of painstaking counting, on March 15th, 1904, the results of New Zend’s referendum were officially released.<div>


    The referendum attracted the participation of the vast majority of eligible New Zenders, with a total of 406,327 votes received, representing 94% of the eligible voters.


    Among the three options avable for the referendum, the least supported was the choice of New Zend’s independence.


    Only about 13,000 people supported New Zend’s independence, ounting for just 3% of the total number of voters.


    This indirectly shows that New Zenders do not think that independence could bring them a better life; on the contrary, they would be more vulnerable to the aspirations of other countries.


    The most popr option was to join Australia.


    Perhaps it was because Arthur, the Duke of Australia, yed a crucial role in resolving New Zend’s crisis this time, or perhaps it was because of the natural goodwill and eptance New Zenders have for Australia, or perhaps it was because of the brainwashing done by Grant’s Alliance Party to the New Zenders; in any case, the option to join Australia received overwhelming support in this referendum.


    A total of 57,000 people supported New Zend’s continued membership in the British Empire, ounting for 14% of the total number of votes.


    On the other hand, over 336,000 people chose to join Australia and form a federation with Australia, ounting for more than 82% of the total number of votes.


    With an overwhelming 82% majority, joining Australia became the choice for New Zend after the referendum.


    When the New Zend colonial government officially announced the results of the referendum on March 15th, the streets of New Zend once again filled with people crying tears of joy.


    New Zenders seemed to see the hope of prosperity and development for their country and the wealthy and beautiful life of New Zenders, just like Australians.


    From March 16th, slogans such as “Long Live the Federation!” and “Long Live Duke Arthur!” appeared on the streets of New Zend, as people seemed to celebrate the rebirth of New Zend and the joy of having Arthur as their monarch as well in this way.


    On March 17th, 1904, Arthur delivered a speech in Wellington, as the Governor of New Zend, announcing that the New Zend colonial government recognized the results of the referendum and dered that after Australia took over New Zend, the colonial government would officially be reorganized as the New Zend Government, keeping both Houses of Parliament intact.<div>


    Also on that day, New Zend and Australia received congrattions from many countries, including the German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russian Empire, ind nation, France, and the United States, among many others, and the congrattions from the British Empire arrivedst.


    On March 18th, 1904, Arthur, as the Duke of Australia, weed all New Zenders, promising that after the establishment of a new federation, he would treat New Zenders as Australians, and that both New Zenders and Australians were his subjects.