At this point, the United Kingdom, France, and Russia, the allies, had not yet reached the tight rtionship they would have during the war, and each had different degrees of preparation and progress for war.


    At this time, when Austrsia proposed that it should havemand over its ownbat forces, Minister Grey had nothing much to argue against it.


    Because considering the current situation, even if the war broke out, Britain, France, and Russia would at most only coordinate their efforts, and it was impossible for them to hand overmand of their own army to other countries.


    Under such circumstances, it was reasonable for Austrsia to demand independentmand of its own army. After all, no one is so generous as to hand over themand of their country''s army to others, which would be equivalent to handing over the lifeblood of the army.


    As for the issue of military expenditure, under the rmendation of Prime Minister Kent, Minister Grey also made some modifications.


    Once the Austrsian troops set out for Europe, the British Government would provide half the soldiers'' sries and bear all the military expenses during thebat period.


    This meant that, once the Austrsian troops arrived in Europe, they could fire their weapons freely, backed by the deep pockets of the British.


    The Austrsian Government only needed to cover half of the increase in personnel, which would not only satisfy their military training objectives but also meet the requirements of the British forbat duty.


    Of course, the British were not just providing financial support for nothing. Minister Grey also imposed a new requirement that once the European war broke out, Austrsianbat forces in Europe must maintain a scale of no less than 200,000 men.


    If, for any reason, there were reductions, Austrsia would need to continue to dispatch troops to Europe to maintain the size ofbat forces at over 200,000.


    This meant that, counting casualties, Austrsia might need to mobilize at least 500,000 troops to join the European war to meet British requirements.


    However, the condition proposed by Minister Grey did not explicitly require any specific number of Austrsian main force troops.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This was eptable to Arthur, because after World War I, it would be necessary to reduce the number of native people to avoid possible ethnic problems in the future.


    Regarding the potential manpower issues caused by the decrease in native people, the majority of heavybor they did could gradually be reced by machinery.


    Furthermore, the poption of Austrsia was constantly increasing. Based on the current annual poption growth, Austrsia''s poption was expected to exceed 13.5 million by the outbreak of World War I, if it urred as it did historically.


    Before 1920, the poption of Austrsia could at least exceed 20 million, and the issue ofbor shortages would not be as serious as it is now.


    Even for a considerable period after the end of World War I, which included the stage when Austrsia would acquire arge number of immigrants.


    If managed well and sessfully reced the United States'' position during World War I, Austrsia would be facing millions, if not tens of millions, of immigrants annually.


    In addition to absorbing the resources of the defeated countries, Arthur could even hope to turn Austrsia into a major power with a poption of thirty to forty million, with military strength ranking third globally andprehensive strength ranking fifth.


    In addition to these military agreements, another important topic discussed during this negotiation was the division of interests after the war.


    This is a topic that can never be avoided. If the alliance of Germany, Austria, and Italy aimed to disrupt the existing colonial order, with Germany obtaining more colonies, Austria-Hungary expanding in the Balkan Penins, and Italy acquiring new territories, then the Allies also had their own goals.


    Although the establishment of the Allies was originally intended to jointly resist German expansion, should victory be achieved in the war, they would certainly demand many benefits from the defeated nations topensate for their military expenses and consumption.


    The UK, France, and Russia were still okay. Whether it was receiving colonies from the Allied Powers or obtaining territories from them, there were many ways to enjoy the benefits and expand.


    But Austrsia was different. Austrsia, in remote Oceania, was adjacent to only one small area influenced by the Allied Powers: German New Guinea.


    But German New Guinea certainly could not satisfy the appetite of Austrsia. Arthur agreed to dispatchrge numbers ofbat troops, certainly not for this small territory he could take over immediately at the start of the war.


    In the vicinity of Austrsia, apart from the territory of German New Guinea, othernds were either British and French possessions in the Pacific Inds or the northern Dutch East Indies.


    However, the Nethends is a rtively weak countrypared to Austrsia, which could obtain any territory of the Dutch East Indies it wished for without any support from other countries.


    This meant that if Britain and France wanted to satisfy Austrsia''s appetite, they would have to make some concessions among the Pacific Inds.


    Especially for inds close to Austrsia like the British Solomon Inds, French New Caledonia, the jointly controlled New Hebrides Inds, British Fiji, French Wallis and Futuna, the British Gilbert and Ellice Inds Protectorate, the British Toku Inds, and the British Phoenix Inds.


    These inds and archipgos were not far from Austrsia, but they were very far from the maind of Britain and France.