The Rise of Australasia

Upon meeting Benz and Diesel again, Arthur found that they hadn’t lost themselves due to their newfound wealth. In fact, they loved their industry and research work even more.

It is important to note that both Diesel and Benz each held ten percent of the shares in their respective engine factories and car factories.

As of now, the car factory is the most profitable business for Arthur’s Royal Financial Group, with an annual income of at least 15 million pounds and increasing as the market expands.

While Benz’s ten percent stake in the car factory may not be much, it still brings him over a million pounds in income each year.

This made him a millionaire in the early twentieth century! Looking at the entire New Zealand region, the total fiscal revenue in 1903 was only 1.5 million pounds, almost on par with Benz’s pre-tax total income.

Benz: What does it mean to be rich enough to rival a country? This is it!

Although the wealth comparison is only with a small country like New Zealand, Benz can still be considered one of the richest people in the world today.

Although Diesel’s engine factory is not as exaggerated, it still brings him an income of over 100,000 pounds a year.

Moreover, from a strategic perspective, Diesel’s engine factory is an even more important enterprise than Benz’s car factory, contributing more to various aspects of Australia than a small car factory.

Take engines for example, almost all large machinery need them. Warships, airplanes, cars, tanks, and even future self-propelled firearms and various civilian machinery all require different types of engines to drive them, right?

Benz and Diesel were also very happy to see Arthur. The two were determined to come to Australia from Germany, not only being attracted by Arthur’s generous research funding but also seeking a more stable research environment to pursue breakthroughs in their respective fields.

Looking at it now, both Benz and Diesel have achieved tremendous success in their respective industries. Benz One has been successfully sold worldwide, becoming one of the most profitable companies in the world.

Meanwhile, Diesel’s engine research lab has successfully developed various types of diesel and gasoline engines, making significant contributions to the development of cars, trucks, and airplanes.

It can be said that the advanced performance of the Benz One is not only due to Benz’s painstaking research but also the indispensable contribution of engines from Diesel’s research lab.

“Your Highness!” Both of them greeted Arthur with a bow.

“Long time no see, Mr. Benz, Mr. Diesel. Benz One’s current sales success is definitely thanks to both of you. Have you received the cheques from the Royal Bank? These are dividends from the car and engine factories, as well as the best rewards for you,” said Arthur with a smile.

Arthur has never been stingy with his valued contributors. Besides, these two have made Arthur 20 million pounds, so he naturally doesn’t mind such rewards.

“We have received it, thank you, Your Highness!” Talking about the cheques, the two looked a bit excited with gratitude.

Compared to their previous experiences as entrepreneurs, they now prefer to work as research experts and heads for Arthur.

At least, they don’t have to worry about management issues and can devote themselves to research work while reaping huge profits.

Looking back at their previous struggles with unsustainable businesses and mounting debts, any fool would know the better choice.

Both of them were given cheques that could be freely exchanged for pounds or Australian dollars. Although they spend most of their time in Australia, there would be no problem giving them Australian dollars.

However, Arthur chose to let them make the decision themselves, as this was a reward, and forcibly exchanging it for Australian dollars might seem less honorable.

After discussing the sales and profits of Benz One, the topic returned to the main subject, which was also the reason for Arthur’s visit to the car factory.

“Mr. Benz, you mentioned that the trial truck product has been made and tested, is that correct?” Arthur inquired.

Trucks are not actually high-tech products. Compared to ordinary cars, they simply reduce the number of passengers and add a cargo compartment behind the car.

However, producing a finished product of a large truck requires a lot of things and cannot be done in a short period of time.

Both the type of engine and the specific design of the truck need to go through a certain amount of experimentation before a suitable idea can be developed.

However, since Benz had already informed Arthur, it meant that the truck design had already taken shape, and even produced a prototype that could withstand testing.

“We have already gone through several rounds of small-scale testing, Your Highness. The current truck is parked in our warehouse, please follow me.” Benz explained with a smile.

Benz Automobile Factory had become one of the most profitable enterprises in the world, and the main factory located in Australia had undergone several expansions, with the warehouse alone occupying a vast area.

Although it was nominally a car factory, this factory also encompassed automotive research, design, testing, production, maintenance and other functions, with each function having relatively independent workshops and venues. This also led to the current Benz Car Factory being the largest enterprise in Australia, not only in terms of land area, but also in terms of the number of workers, scale and, most importantly, profitability and value.

Because the car factory was so massive, this time they didn’t walk to the warehouse, but took a car instead.

Of course, the Benz Car Factory naturally had no shortage of cars, whether it was the cars with armor and specialized glass prepared for the nobles and capitalists, or the regular Benz Ones sold on the market, they were everywhere in the factory.

Compared to the regular Benz Ones, the cars reinforced with steel plates and special glass, known as Benz Ones, were specifically aimed at the grand nobility and capitalists of the world.

Such cars could even withstand long-range pistol shots, and also provided excellent resistance to close-range handgun fire.

As long as it wasn’t a close-range rifle shot, or a high-powered weapon attack like a heavy machine gun or a small firearm, passengers inside the car wouldn’t be in mortal danger.

At present, firearms development is not very advanced, and heavy firepower weapons can’t be concealed; this has led to assassinations using handguns and short guns, which have diminished power.

Such a weapon, if fired at close range, could penetrate the armor of the Benz Ones, but the damage would be largely mitigated.

As long as the critical parts are not hit by coincidence, it would at most cause severe injuries.

In the era where firearms are not prohibited, and given the capitalists’ harsh exploitation of the people, assassinations were quite common.

Especially when politics were involved, assassinations were inevitable. Even Tsar Nicholas II, who had once been the crown prince of the Russian Empire, almost lost his life in an assassination attempt in the island nation, didn’t he?

It was precisely because nobles and capitalists cherished their own lives and feared the possibility of assassination that these specially ordered cars were popular.

Although the price of the Benz Ones was much more expensive, averaging more than two hundred and fifty pounds, it couldn’t stop the nobles and capitalists from valuing their lives.

However, for Arthur, such vehicles were more often than not used as gifts to other nobles.

So far, Arthur had gifted more than twenty cars to the European region, with the recipients being all the major nobles in Europe, including the British and German Royal Family.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the rear warehouse of the Benz Car Factory.

This warehouse was connected to the factory’s laboratory and research room, and it was used solely to park prototypes of new designs, not finished products.

At the moment, neatly parked inside the warehouse were ten large trucks.

Of course, these ten trucks were not all identical; there were two types based on size.

Arthur looked at Benz, and Benz immediately understood, smiling and explaining: “Your Highness, what you see here are the two experimental products that we have developed after multiple efforts of design, experimentation and improvement, based on your suggestions.”

Having said that, Benz walked to the smaller truck and continued: “This smaller truck, Your Highness, uses the same gasoline engine as our cars, with the advantage of low noise and low emissions, making it suitable for urban transportation.”

“But it also has some obvious drawbacks, due to using the gasoline engine, the power is not as sufficient compared to the diesel engine. Currently, this small truck has a maximum load capacity of about 0.8 tons, a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour, and a maximum driving range of about 300 kilometers,” Benz explained with a helpless expression.

Gasoline and diesel engines each have their own advantages and disadvantages. The small truck adopted a gasoline engine, reaping various advantages at the cost of some shortcomings inherent to gasoline engines.

However, the low-emission, low-noise truck is more suitable for use in cities. In this way, the urban environment would not be too affected, and it would also accommodate the crowded city character.

After all, even with the widest roads in the city, it would not be very suitable for very large trucks to drive on.

“The larger truck next to it uses a more powerful diesel engine and is equipped with a larger cargo box. This large truck has a maximum load capacity of 1.5 tons, a maximum speed of 35 kilometers per hour, and a maximum range of 300 kilometers, which basically meets your expectations for a cargo vehicle, Your Highness,” Benz said, looking at the larger truck nearby.

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