On July 3, 907, the Kingdom of Portugal officially responded, deciding not to hand over any Portuguese fisherm and insisting that Portuguese fisherm had no responsibility in the conflict.


    This decision by the Portuguese governmt also caused quite a stir among European citizs.


    Europeans couldn''t believe that, under the circumstances where both human and material evidce were prest, the Portuguese still stubbornly died the responsibility of Portuguese fisherm in the conflict and ev brazly shielded the criminals.


    Ev Arthur didn''t expect the Portuguese to be so tough. Despite the clearly unfavorable European public opinion, they resolutely stuck to their position.


    However, this is a good thing for Austrsia. If the Portuguese governmt quicklypromised, th Austrsia would have no excuse to interve in Portuguese Timor.


    Now that the Portuguese governmt is stubborn, it''s a good excuse for Austrsia to get involved in Portuguese Timor, which could also be an opportunity for Austrsia to expand again.


    Arthur had originally thought that the opportunity for Austrsian expansion would be in the Dutch East Indies, but he didn''t expect the Portuguese to be restless first.


    On August , 907, Arthur expressed his shock at the attitude of the Portuguese governmt in a public interview, and firmly dered that the Austrsian army would seek justice for Austrsian citizs and that no country or power could prevail over Austrsians.


    On August 3, 907, the Austrsian governmt issued a final ultimatum to the Kingdom of Portugal, demanding that the Kingdom of Portugal immediately ept Austrsia''spsation demands and apologize to the attacked Austrsian fisherm.


    The Austrsian governmt also dered that if Portugal insisted that their fisherm did nothing wrong, they should produce the necessary evidce, rather than merely making unsubstantiated ims in newspapers.


    Austrsia''s demand once again won the approval of the European people.


    Ev after the initial rejection, Austrsia still only demanded that the Portuguese governmt apologize to the attacked fisherm andpsate all affected fisherm.


    In the eyes of most European people, these were very reasonable demands and conditions.


    Comparing the starkly differt attitudes of Austrsia and the Kingdom of Portugal after this conflict, many European citizs ev thought that such conditions would put Austrsia at a disadvantage.


    To the surprise of European citizs, the Portuguese governmt, or rather the autocratic monarch Carlos I, once again rejected Austrsia''s request.


    In fact, Carlos I quickly felt the immse prestige and respect that his strong protection of the people brought to the royal family and himself.


    Although in the European public opinion, Portugal''s prestige and reputation were repeatedly lowered. However, within Portugal, Carlos I''s prestige actually increased. A number of media outlets and individuals spontaneously voiced their support for King Carlos I''s decision.


    It should be noted that since Carlos I implemted high-pressure policies, many opposition parties and media have had no good reviews.


    Being able to publicly support Carlos I this time shows just how significant the impact of Carlos I''s decision is within Portugal.


    At this stage of the evt, ev if his purpose was simply to maintain his rule, Carlos I had no choice but to stick to his decision, which was to protect his citizs at all costs.


    This conflict has also attracted the atttion of many European countries, including Germany and Russia, which have close rtions with Austrsia.


    Britain''s attitude was ambiguous. Although they expressed concern about the situation, they did not clearly support either side.


    After the Kingdom of Portugal once again rejected the request of the Austrsian governmt, William II also expressed his surprise and dissatisfaction with the attitude of the Kingdom of Portugal governmt and his support for Austrsia.


    The Russians acted ev more decisively, not only criticizing the Kingdom of Portugal bluntly but also mocking Carlos I as a coward who dared not admit his mistakes.


    The dissatisfaction and challge from the two European powers also made Carlos I somewhat apprehsive.


    Fortunately, the British Empire soon secretly contacted Carlos I, expressing concern about the matter and dering that the British Empire would work with France to make efforts to resolve the conflict peacefully.


    With this, Carlos I gradually became reassured. As long as there were guarantees from Britain and France, Austrsia could not pose a significant threat to the Kingdom of Portugal.


    On the contrary, he could use this conflict to umte a significant amount of prestige within Portugal.


    Wh the time was ripe, he could simply prest the fisherm at the time as scapegoats and portray himself as a deceived king with a heart full of love for the people. This would allow him to emerge unscathed from the incidt and retain the vast prestige he had umted.


    But is it really that simple? Or rather, Carlos I underestimated the ambition of the Australians and the ambition of Arthur.


    On August 5, 907, after the d of the final 48-hour notice giv by the Austrsian governmt to the Kingdom of Portugal, the Austrsian governmt held a public meeting.


    Prime Minister Walter regretfully announced: "In view of the extremely unreasonable performance of the Kingdom of Portugal governmt, showing no mercy to the injured Austrsian fisherm, and ev fabricating lies and stirring up controversy, attempting to discredit the injured fisherm and the Austrsian governmt, the Austrsian governmt has decided to cut off diplomatic rtions with the Kingdom of Portugal and dere Austrsia to be on a war readiness status."


    Although Prime Minister Walter had not officially dered war on the Kingdom of Portugal, the fact that Austrsia had tered a state of war readiness indicated that the Austrsians were prepared for war.


    After tering a state of war, there was national outrage within Austrsia, and all temporary conscription offices were filled, with many Austrsians looking for various ways to donate funds to the governmt.


    With everyone united, at this momt, the emy of all Austrsians was only one: the Kingdom of Portugal, which had hurt the feelings of Austrsia.


    After diplomatic rtions with the Austrsian Governmt were severed, Carlos I became somewhat panicked.


    However, Carlos I''s solution to the problem was not topromise with Austrsia, but to seek the support of the British Empire and France, which had previously promised assistance.


    The British did indeed provide assistance; more precisely, they provided a method to resolve the conflict.


    In fact, after Austrsia made the decision, the British clearly expressed their attitude: they advised both parties to remain calm during the conflict and were willing to provide a professional team to investigate the truth of the incidt for both sides.


    This was quite normal considering the British''s character as troublemakers, so their decision was understandable.


    More importantly, Arthur had good support and favorability in the United Kingdom, and the special rtionship betwe Austrsia and the United Kingdom made the British closer to Austrsia.


    Moreover, no matter how one looked at the conflict, the victimized party was Austrsia. Whether to help on principle or to help on ties, it was obvious that support should be giv to Austrsia, right?N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Under such attitudes of the British public, if the British governmt made a decision contrary to the people''s wishes, the resulting turmoil would be predictable.


    Ev Edward VII, who was extremely dissatisfied with Arthur, would not stand up to be the target at such a time, let alone British politicians who had no grudges against Arthur.


    Expressing a neutral attitude already risked offding the British public; if it wer''t for Edward VII''s delicate position, the British politicians might have already dered their support for Austrsia.


    After all, their official careers depded on the support of MPs and the people. A governmt that offds the British people is destined not tost long.


    The attitude of the Frch was not much differt from the British; they only advised both parties to remain calm and restrained, and were willing to act as a neutral party in investigating the cause and process of the conflict and resolving the dispute peacefully.


    If such words could solve regional crises, there would be far fewer wars in world history.


    Unfortunately, such words were ultimately just for show; they could not prevt wars or save any losses.


    On August 8, 907, Prime Minister Walter once again made a public appearance and announced the final decision of the Austrsian Governmt and Arthur''s order: The Austrsian Governmt dered that it was immediately in a state of war with the Kingdom of Portugal and would dispatch troops to force its demands.


    Prime Minister Walter smiled and said that the goal of the Austrsian Governmt was only to achieve the previous demands: the Kingdom of Portugal must surrder the culprits behind the conflict, apologize to the injured fisherm, andpsate all affected Austrsian fisherm.


    Based on the time of the conflict and the number of affected fisherm, the Kingdom of Portugal should pay at least one million Australian dors inpsation to the ts of thousands of Austrsian fisherm and at least one million Australian dors inpsation to the injured fisherm.


    Although the totalpsation was only two million Australian dors, Carlos I knew that at this stage, Portuguese national stimt had be fully mobilized.


    If the governmt agreed to thepsation at this time, ev if it was only ,000 Australian dors, the Portuguese people would be very disappointed in the governmt.


    The person most affected, naturally, would be Carlos I, who had sessfully established his image as a patriot who loved the people and did not fear the powerful during this conflict.


    As a result, after Austrsia dered war, the Portuguese governmt responded decisively: Portugal and Austrsia were in a state of war.


    The Kingdom of Portugal was thousands of miles away from Austrsia, and the area most vulnerable to this war was Portugal''s Asian colony.


    To express his attitude, Carlos I decisively announced that he would deploy 40,000 troops from maind Europe to East Asia. These soldiers would arrive in batches in Portugal''s East Asian colonies within three months.


    Meanwhile, in Austrsia.


    Since the beginning of the conflict, Austrsia had be preparing for war.


    Although the preparation time was insufficit, the number of Austrsian troops was notrge, so the time for assembly was still adequate.


    On the day the governmt dered war, more than ,000 troops had already assembled at the Sydney Harbour, ready to board transport ships and, under the protection of the fleet, head to Portuguese Timor to capture Portugal''s important stronghold in Asia.