Holy Roman Empire

The main reason why orders are frequently rejected is nationalism. Most people believe that Britain is the chief culprit for the division of Germany, and oppose any form of military cooperation with the British.

Faced with overwhelming public opinion, the weak North German central government naturally couldn't bear it, and the state parliament was just a tool to push it to the fore.

After hearing this explanation, Prime Minister Gladstone's good mood suddenly disappeared, and cursed: "It's damn nationalism again, this is definitely the biggest ideological cancer in the world.

I bet: If the situation in Europe gets out of control one day, it will definitely be caused by nationalism.

Leave them alone, what is the difference between handing over shipbuilding technology to them and giving it directly to the Austrians?

Tell the North German government that we can reject these warship orders, but they must not fall into the hands of Austria, or they will bear the consequences. "

There is no way, the German region is originally the cradle of European nationalist ideas, and it is not at all that it can be controlled if it is controlled.

The princes have been fighting for hundreds of years, and everyone has long been tired.In the original time and space, Prussia was able to easily annex many states in North Germany because of the spread of nationalism and peace of mind.

It is almost the same now, even because the great powers interfered in the unification of the German region back then, the people felt that they had been humiliated, and nationalism was even higher than in the same period in history.

Coupled with the help of Austria, anti-British thinking has become the mainstream thought in the German region. The Hannover boy who was single-handedly supported by this influence is not so obedient.

It is not that the British government has launched a counterattack, but unfortunately the effect is not very good. Not only the people do not buy it, but even the rulers have little interest.

If the Austrian threat theory was advocated before the nationalism, it would definitely be effective, but unfortunately the time is not right now.

In the minds of nationalists, the Austrian threat theory is similar to the Austrian unity theory, and it can't scare people at all.

Against this background, it would be too embarrassing to expect the North German shipyards to keep British shipbuilding technology a secret.

It is not surprising that Prime Minister Gladstone is angry. Facing a younger brother who only sees investment but sees no return, and whose position is vacillating, anyone will have opinions.

……

Sir Astley Cooper Key, Secretary of the Navy: "Your Excellency, the new shipbuilding plan of the Admiralty has been drafted."

Prime Minister Gladstone took over the document and just glanced at the number and cost of shipbuilding. As for the specific parameters, this is not something he, a layman, needs to consider.

"Isn't it too much to add another six capital ships? How can this game continue if France and Austria are scared away?"

Prime Minister Gladstone's concerns are valid.For a country, face is certainly important, but face cannot be eaten as food.

If Britain plays too hard, it is normal for France and Austria to retreat, after all, they are two land powers.

If you lose the naval arms race, you lose, or die.Anyway, whether there is a referee or not, in other words, anyone can call himself a winner.

Hearing this figure, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Xiaozhi Childers said first: "This year's budget has been allocated, and even next year's budget has a place to go.

The shipbuilding plans of France and Austria are all three or five years, so we don't need to worry at all.The navy's shipbuilding plan should be postponed for two years. "

In fact, most of the Royal Navy's shipbuilding plans were carried out separately. This time, it was only for the first time that a "six battleships" were launched in front of them.

The effect is naturally leveraged. Britain showed the world their powerful shipbuilding capabilities and once again shocked the world.

Except for Britain, there is no country in the world that has a record of starting construction of six new battleships at the same time.

However, the world's No.1 leader also has to pay a price, that is, money is spent very quickly.

Although a sum of money was made from the Jews, the bureaucrats' ability to spend money is unquestionable. In just a few months, the spending plans reported by various departments greatly exceeded the total amount.

In order to control the government's spending speed, the foresighted Xiaozhi Childers chose to reduce government debt early.

Except for a few important plans being approved, most of the plans have been shelved indefinitely, so let's wait until the year when I think about it before implementing it!

In this respect, this British government is excellent, at least in terms of responsibility.

Astley Cooper Key frowned, and looked at the Chancellor for a while, but finally lost helplessly.

There is no way, the money bag can't afford it.Even if the funds for shipbuilding are allocated, the subsequent increase in military expenditure will also require the support of the Ministry of Finance.

Astley Cooper Key retreated and said: "The shipbuilding can be postponed, but I think it is better to announce the plan earlier.

To consume the financial resources of France and Austria, we must put more pressure on them. If we want to make peace as it is now, it will not do anything at all. "

Tepid indeed, the arms race has only theoretically begun.The shipyards of various countries have not started to work at full capacity, building two or three battleships every year. Is it embarrassing to say that there is an arms race?

You know, in normal years, Britain builds two or three battleships every year.Otherwise, it will not be able to make up for the retirement gap of the Royal Navy's capital ships.

……

As the British continued to increase the size, the arms race started in full swing.Watching the wonderful performances of the governments of Britain, France and Austria, Alexander III looked very lonely.

Such an important moment, the Russian Empire was absent.

You know, even the declining small countries such as Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands have gritted their teeth and announced their own shipbuilding plans.

Although the scale is a bit small, or it is a symbolic build-up of a brush, I still participated after all.

It's not that the Russian Empire is so poor that they can't even afford the money to build a warship. The key is that they have no technology!

Several major shipyards in Russia have not received orders for warships for decades, and their technology has long been abandoned. Let alone new battleships, they have never built even the original ironclad ships.

The so-called shipbuilding information is still in the era of sailing warships.Isn't it a joke to step forward to the pre-dreadnought era without any technology accumulation?

Alexander III asked with concern: "How about it, do the Austrians agree to transfer shipbuilding technology?"

These days, shipbuilding technology is basically the embodiment of a country's highest technological level, and everyone keeps it strictly confidential.

Foreign Minister Oscar Jimenez: "The Austrian government has agreed to the technology transfer, but we need to negotiate the specific cost with the shipyard ourselves.

Our people visited the heads of several warship manufacturing plants in Austria, and the results were not optimistic. They asked for bundled sales, and the quotations far exceeded our affordability.

The Venetian shipyard with the lowest offer, the latest battleship technology transfer conditions are as high as 800 million Aegis, plus orders for 4 battleships, 10 destroyers, 6 cruisers, and 36 subsidiary warships. "

This is no longer a technology transfer, it is clearly a scam.But there is no way, there are only a few countries that have mastered these technologies.

There are less than [-] shipyards in the world with new battleship shipbuilding technology, and even fewer are willing to sell technology.

In fact, Oscar Jimenez still has nothing to say, and the Venetian shipyard with the lowest offer has never built a new battleship.

Just how advanced the so-called advanced technology is is a question no one can answer.

In fact, many shipyards in Austria can build warships, but their main business is to build civilian merchant ships.

The main goal of participating in warship manufacturing is to make a name for yourself, which is similar to advertising.

Generally speaking, the standard recognized by the outside world is: a shipyard that can build capital ships for the military is a first-class shipyard;

A shipyard that can build destroyers and cruisers is considered a second-rate shipyard;

A shipyard that can only build subsidiary warships is a third-rate shipyard;

A shipyard for a warship that cannot be built is a small family workshop, no matter how large it is.

Just like this Venetian shipyard, which was PKed down during the bidding process, it still has not given up on related technology research and development.

Originally planning to continue bidding next time, when they heard that the Russians wanted to introduce technology, they were ready to rip off.

As for the other shipyards that participated in the quotation, of course they jointly raised the price together.If the business is negotiated, the Venice Shipyard will inevitably give everyone a compensation.

It is completely overthinking to expect shipyards to lower prices because of competition, and no one will have trouble with money.

Alexander III was surprised: "Why is it so expensive?"

Foreign Minister Oscar Jimenez explained: "The main reason is that there are very few factories that have mastered these technologies, and it also involves the core technologies of enterprises, which are generally not sold to the outside world.

If it is not for the order of our navy, these shipyards will not even quote the price. "

Alexander III nodded. People don't want to sell technology, so it is normal to deliberately quote a sky-high price to scare them off.

Outsourcing warships, this option never existed.A few more warships are meaningless to the Russian Empire if the most advanced shipbuilding technology cannot be obtained.

After contemplating for a while, Alexander III said bitterly: "Let's talk slowly! We are not in a hurry, anyway, this arms race has nothing to do with us.

If you can't get the most advanced shipbuilding technology, you can take the next best thing and get the related technology of these warships in our hands. "

If it weren't for Austria sending a bunch of warships to his door, Alexander III would never have the idea of ​​buying shipbuilding technology.

There is no way now, not to buy technology from Austria, and the post-maintenance of the warship has to be driven to the shipyard in Austria.

As a result, the Russian navy can only circle in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and it is impossible to divide a fleet into the Baltic Sea.

As for the Russian shipyards, quite a few volunteered to say that they could do a good job of post-maintenance, but the whole navy couldn't believe it, worrying that these precious lumps would be harmed by them.

Not only the navy didn't believe it, but Alexander III didn't believe it either.He has received a new education and knows how complicated the navy is.

There is a problem with the maintenance of the warship. It may be inconspicuous in normal times, but it can kill people at critical moments.

Chapter 98 Let's do something

A wave of unrest, a wave of up again.

When the arms race between Britain, France and Austria was reaching its climax, Central Asia was once again in trouble.

On July 1887, 7, Lytton, the British governor in India, suddenly notified the Afghan government that he would send a delegation to visit Kabul.

Weasels are naturally uneasy and kind when they wish chickens a new year.

Although many years have passed since the last Anglo-Afghan war, the British colonization of Afghanistan has never stopped, and there has never been a so-called friendship between the two countries.

Anti-British sentiment among the Afghan people has always been very serious, considering that the security of the delegation cannot be guaranteed and the reaction of the Russians.

In order not to cause trouble, Abdul Rahman Khan Emir declined the British request.

However, Governor Lytton was not one to admit defeat. He made requests again and again, with the intention of vowing not to give up if he did not agree.

Unable to resist the entanglement of the British, in September, the emir was forced to agree to the British request.

The British went, and the Russians naturally couldn't watch their little brother being bullied. Immediately afterwards, the Tsarist government also sent a delegation.

What happened later, Franz is not clear, anyway, the struggle between Britain and Russia revolves around Afghanistan.

"How do the Russians want our support?" asked Franz.

Austria and Afghanistan are thousands of miles apart, and there is a Persian Empire in between.

The Vienna government doesn't like to stretch out its hands indiscriminately. Naturally, there will be no Austrian power in such a place that has no interests and cannot be reached.

In Afghanistan, the only ones who really have the right to speak are Britain and Russia.

Against this background, the tsarist government's desire to obtain the support of Austria felt wrong no matter how they looked at it.

Foreign Secretary Weisenberg replied: "The Russians hope that we can help distract the British, and it is best to find something for the British government to do."

Carefully recalling the struggle between Britain and Russia over the Afghan region in the original time and space, Franz finally found something was wrong, and the second Anglo-Afghan war was gone.

After realizing something was wrong, Franz signaled everyone to take a rest for a while, and hurried to the secret room to take out the memoir written at the beginning of the time travel, and looked it up.

He soon figured out the cause and effect. Affected by the Prussian-Russian War, the Russians ignored their expansion to Central Asia in the past few years.

Without the threat of the Russians, coupled with the heavy losses in the first Anglo-Afghan War, the British's desire to seize Afghanistan is naturally not strong.

By the way, Britain and Austria also played a key role in the "British Boer War" that broke out in South Africa.

It cost hundreds of millions of pounds and ended up with nothing, which directly affected the British government's colonial policy.

Due to many factors, Afghanistan, which has little interest, was very lucky to escape.

Now that the Russians are making a comeback and once again targeting Central Asia for expansion, Afghanistan, a small pro-Russian country, is an eyesore.

Returning to the meeting room, Franz picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said slowly, "What do you think, how about we find a way to provoke a second Anglo-Afghanistan war?"

The sudden reversal of the painting style, everyone looked at me and I looked at you, all with confused expressions, completely unaware of what kind of medicine was sold in the emperor's gourd.

Seeing that everyone didn't react, Franz ordered to the attendant: "Bring the map of Central Asia."

……

"Look at Afghanistan, it borders the Central Asian Khanate in the north, British India in the south, the Far East Empire in the east, and the Persian Empire in the west. It can be said to be the heart of Asia.

Whoever controls this place will control the strategic initiative in Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia, which is very important to Britain and Russia.

A few years ago, the Russians were busy with European issues and had no time to take care of the Central Asian region. Naturally, the British could slowly infiltrate into the Afghan region without haste.

Now that the Russians have turned around and refocused their expansion on Central Asia, the pro-Russian Afghanistan has made the British embarrassed.

If the Russians behaved a bit more outrageously, do you think the British would be relieved after the failure of diplomacy to win over Afghanistan? "

Prime Minister Carr: "Your Majesty, it is not difficult to get the Russians to provoke the British, and it is not difficult to destroy the British plan to win over Afghanistan.

It's just that we are now at a critical moment in the arms race. No matter how important the Afghanistan region is, it is not as important as the hegemony of the Royal Navy.

No matter how deeply the British government feels, they will not provoke a second Anglo-Afghan war until the arms race is over. "

This is the most practical issue. No matter how big-hearted the British are in the face of the two challengers from Fa and Austria, they have to prioritize.

Franz nodded: "That's right! Under normal circumstances, the British would not launch a second war in Afghanistan in an arms race.

I didn't expect the war to break out immediately, and delaying the time will also achieve the goal.