Holy Roman Empire

This is an inevitable result. Not to mention the incomplete intelligence network, even if all Afghans are turned into intelligence personnel, there is no way for the news to spread.

The British diplomacy is not bragging. The neighbors of Afghanistan have already pulled up the blockade, and the only way to communicate with the outside world is smuggling.

Facts have proved that smuggling channels are also not suitable for passing information.

Both Persia and the Central Asian Khanate are poor ghosts, and most areas have neither railways nor telegraphs.

Before the war broke out, the Vienna government had to lag by more than a week when it received news from Afghanistan.Not to mention after the outbreak of war.

Hearing the bad news, Franz frowned: "In other words, we have lost contact with the Afghan government.

The originally planned airdrop has now lost the possibility of implementation because it lost its target. "

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Wesenberg replied.

"Judging from the current situation, we can only rely on the Russians to reopen the connection with the Afghan government.

They have been operating locally for so long that they should have hidden messaging channels.Now it is only affected by the war and temporarily interrupted.

The Tsarist government is trying to recover, and it may be able to recover after a while. "

"Put hope on the Russians" and "recover after a while", such answers made Franz directly dispel the idea of ​​airdropping supplies.

Although Afghanistan is a small country, its territory is not small at all, and most of it is mountainous.

If there is no receiving signal from below, who knows where to hand over and how to let the airship soldiers airdrop supplies?

You can't just throw it around. Throwing it into deep mountains, old forests, rivers and lakes, the big deal is losing a lot of supplies.

If you are unlucky and happen to fall on the head of the British army and become the captain of the transport brigade, it will be embarrassing.

After contemplating for a while, Franz made a decision: "Forget it, this kind of thing happened, it can only be regarded as bad luck for the Afghan government.

Didn't they send liaison officers to let them find a way to get in touch with the country? We can't do anything now. "

Anxious?

If it does not exist, even if the Afghan government falls, the Russians will make up for it.

Besides, even if the British won, so what?

Occupying a settlement full of guerrillas and religious fanatics is not a good thing. The high cost of governance will make the British realize the reality sooner or later.

Minister of War Feslav suggested: "Your Majesty, our troops stationed in the colonies have not changed their weapons and equipment for many years.

In view of the current severe international situation, we must prepare in advance. The Ministry of War proposes a major refit, first increasing the defense capabilities of the colony. "

Feslav's words reminded Franz that although the colonial armed forces of various countries these days are second- and third-rate troops of their own, with the worst recruits, the most outdated weapons, and the simplest training, Austria is an exception.

Only the weapons and equipment of the colonial army are a little behind, and in other respects it is still on par with the main force in the country.

In the past few years, the Vienna government also sent out the main force to conduct actual combat exercises in turns.

It was only later that the enemies in the colony were wiped out, and this actual combat training plan was forced to end.

In normal times, it is naturally not a problem for the colonial troops to maintain their current state.

The equipment is almost inferior. Anyway, the colonial armies of various countries are comparing each other, as long as they are better than their peers.

Now that the international situation has changed, no one can guarantee when the gun will go off.

In this context, it is particularly important to increase the strength of the colony.

Especially in the Austrian African region, once the European war breaks out, they are not expected to capture the whole of Africa at once, but they still have to complete the acquisition of strategic places such as Egypt, the Cape of Good Hope, and Djibouti.

This is the core of Austria's starting from the formulation of national policy. After winning these important places, not only the mainland and Africa are connected, but Britain and France have to travel tens of thousands of kilometers to enter the Indian Ocean.

It used to take two routes, but now it only takes one time. Not only does the transportation cost increase, but it also means that the enemy's sea transportation capacity has been reduced by half.

"Not only do we need to change our outfits, we must also increase the colony's weapons reserves. Taking Austrian Africa as an example, the local area should store enough armaments to arm 100 million people to fight for a year.

Once the European war breaks out, the colonies must do their best to seize the entire African continent by their own strength. "

It's not that Franz has a big appetite, but that Austrian Africa already possesses such strength.

Today, the total population of Austrian Africa has reached more than 2000 million, which is several times more than the total number of immigrants from the other major colonial empires combined.

Once the war breaks out, it is doomed to attack in all directions.Even if the Vienna government does not order, the local military nobles will pull their own teams to do it.

The warlike nature has been implanted in everyone's bone marrow since the opening of Austrian Africa.

If the conditions were not allowed and the Vienna government deliberately suppressed it, they would have engaged in friction in Africa long ago.

It would be foolish not to take advantage of conditions. Not to mention winning the entire African continent, as long as a few important places are won, Austria will be sure to win.

Prime Minister Karl questioned: "Your Majesty, this is too much! Several of our important colonies have strong military power, and they cannot be shaken by neighboring countries at all.

Even if the European war breaks out, the power of Austrian Africa is enough to deal with any enemy.Now that so many weapons and equipment are being sent to the colonies, it is easy to cause tension in the international situation. "

The weapons and equipment for 100 million people to fight for a year are not just a star and a half. If you want to calculate it in units, it is one million tons.

It is almost impossible to keep such a large amount of supplies in the past.These days, who doesn't plant a few spies on the other side!

If important military intelligence cannot be found out, who can be fooled by such a shipload of munitions?

Franz nodded, this is indeed a question.Not to mention transportation, just organizing production can attract the attention of the European world.

"Then do it in batches, first increase the supply in the name of changing clothes, and then add a part when replenishing supplies every month. The more times, the less conspicuous it will be.

This Central Asian War is the best cover.Order the state-owned arsenal to double the production capacity of weapons from now on, and announce to the outside world that it is an order from the Russians.

Don't announce the specific figures to the outside world. The arsenals are scattered all over the country, and most people don't pay attention to them. "

The advantage of state-owned enterprises is here that the government can control production capacity without disclosing any information to the outside world.

How many weapons and ammunition were produced and how many were exported, as long as the Vienna government does not say it, no one knows at all.

Even if someone investigates, all the arsenals must be investigated together to get accurate figures. It is meaningless to investigate the data of one or two arsenals alone.

It's not that Franz boasted, how many arsenals there are in Austria, and how many companies have military production capacity, it is impossible for the outside world to know.

The reason is very simple, there are too many related companies.Many machinery factories can immediately become military factories as long as they modify their production equipment.

Anyway, it's all streamlined construction, and you don't need your company to produce all the spare parts, as long as you can produce a part of it.

Putting together the spare parts produced by everyone, a weapon was born.

The current military factories just have a relatively complete industrial chain and do not need to buy spare parts everywhere.

From the beginning to the end, the spare parts produced by one company will naturally have an advantage in assembly, and the quality should be relatively guaranteed.

But in the war years, these are minor problems.In many cases, quantity is more important than quality, as long as it can be used, some flaws are not worth mentioning at all.

Chapter 112 Crazy Exploration

While increasing the storage of weapons and equipment, Austria has also increased investment in research and development of new equipment.

For example: tanks that run as slow as a turtle, aircraft with a range of only more than 300 kilometers, and stupid artillery, all of which need to be improved.

In fact, with the continuous development of science and technology, the factors that determine the outcome of a war are more and more inclined to weapons and logistics.

Preparing for war is not just a matter of stocking up on weapons and ammunition, but other strategic materials must also keep up.

This involves a wide range. Many materials are essentially common to both military and civilian use, and production is not limited to state-owned enterprises. Most of them come from private enterprises.

In order not to arouse suspicion from the outside world and expose the government's strategic plan, there is no need to think about increasing material reserves.

But it should be the enemy who is worried about this problem.

After all, Austria has a complete industrial chain and self-sufficiency in raw materials. When the war breaks out and speeds up production, it will be much faster than its competitors.

Preparations are all preparations, and no one knows when the war will start.

The Vienna government began to prepare for war. In fact, based on the analysis of changes in the international situation, it felt that war might break out in the European continent.

Judging from the current situation, whoever fires the first shot will push the sloppy countries in Central Europe to the opposite side.

Don't look at Belgium's pro-Austria, countries such as the Netherlands and Switzerland are also showing goodwill to Austria, all of which are based on the aggressive premise of the French government.

In the era of Napoleon III in the original time and space, he still wanted to annex Belgium and interfered in Belgium's internal affairs many times. The two sides stood on opposite sides.

During the World War, Belgium fell to the Allied Powers, and was actually forced to come out. It is not really like the outside world said that Britain and France have good diplomatic skills.

If the Second German Empire didn't use Belgium to attack France, why would they join the war? Isn't neutrality good?

The Belgians are not stupid. For a small country, if they go to participate in the world war, they will be used as cannon fodder, and they will not get much benefit at all.

Perhaps a Belgium is not worth mentioning, what if the North German Federation is added?

Franz knew exactly what the group of small states in the German region were.

Refer to the Prussian-Prussian War in the original time and space. It was agreed that everyone would join forces to deal with Prussia, but in the end it was left to Austria and Prussia to fight alone.

It should have been evenly matched, but because of the paddling of these states, Austria's military strength was at an absolute disadvantage in the battle.

I want them to work hard, unless the enemy is coming.Otherwise, these guys can only be pulled out to shout slogans and build momentum.

……

Since the destruction of the anti-French alliance smacked by Austria, the atmosphere of the French government has changed, and everyone suddenly found that the cloud hanging over France no longer exists.

This sudden change made many people uncomfortable.With the help of capital, the voice of the main combat faction became louder.

Changes in the outside world also affected Napoleon IV's judgment.

"It seems that Austria is not that powerful. After losing the support of the British, the Vienna government can't pull out the anti-French siege."

Changes in ideas will naturally affect political decision-making.Napoleon IV no longer cared so much about Austrian affairs.

Versailles Palace

After briefly looking at the documents in his hand, Napoleon IV asked uncertainly: "Are you ready to restart the international coal price negotiations?"

In order to hinder the economic development of France, the International Coal Export Alliance was established under the leadership of Britain and Austria, which controlled the international coal transaction price.

Affected by this, the price of coal imported by France is at least 50.00% higher than that of Britain and Austria.

Energy prices are high, and industrial production costs will naturally go up.This directly caused many French industrial and commercial products to lose their competitiveness internationally.

In order to disintegrate the International Coal Export Alliance, the French government and the industrial and commercial circles have tried their best and exhausted their means, but they still haven't achieved their goal.

Even because it has mastered the energy lifeline of France, the International Coal Export Union often criticizes French industry and commerce.

Everything has two sides, forced by high energy prices, France took the lead in sounding the clarion call for energy conservation.

For steam engines and boilers of the same power, the coal consumption of French products is usually several percentage points lower, and some outstanding performance may save [-] to [-]%.

Not only is the coal consumption low, but the French have also invented many coal substitutes, such as charcoal.

In most fields, French boilers and steam engine equipment can burn charcoal, and some equipment can also directly burn wood.

Of course, black technology is not a panacea, and substitutes are always just substitutes, and there is still a certain gap from the original authentic products.

This has led to French industrial and commercial products, which inevitably have a slight flaw in quality, and can only be used as they are.

The most typical one is steel. The overall quality of French steel is the worst, even worse than that of Russians.

Minister of Economy Elsa said righteously: "Your Majesty, please rest assured. For the healthy development of the domestic economy, the Ministry of Economic Affairs will definitely do its best to bring down the price of international coal transactions."

Foreign Secretary Karel Kadlecs echoed: "The Foreign Office is fully cooperating with the Ministry of Economy and we have already started lobbying the British.

Judging from the current situation, the British Coal Export Association has shown signs of compromise.As long as the British let go, we can force Belgium and the German Confederation to compromise. "

The contradiction is only because of interests. If the purpose of the establishment of the International Coal Export Alliance was to suppress the French economy, it is now purely because of interests.

In a sense, coal is also a rigid demand product.No matter how hard the French try to find alternatives, they still have to import a lot.

In this context, suppliers naturally want to raise prices in order to reap huge profits.

It is very simple to make the British let go, and that is to spend money.As long as they can make up for the less money they make in coal exports in other ways, things will be fine.

As for the coal suppliers of Belgium and the North German Federation, they can only be considered unlucky. Who made their countries weak?

Napoleon IV fell into contemplation. It seemed that it was just a coal price negotiation. In fact, this was a test for the international community.

If the plan is successful and does not cause a violent backlash from the international community, then the French government will not need to be so cautious in the days to come.

"Since you are all ready, let's restart the negotiation! But pay attention to the method and means, and don't make a big mess."

It can be seen that Napoleon IV is not so at ease with his bureaucrats.

This has something to do with the French political system. The Ministry of Economy is definitely the department most affected by capital in the government, and the performance of officials has been linked to capital from the very beginning.

If you don't say hello in advance, these guys will act according to the will of the capital, and it is possible to directly provoke a war.