Holy Roman Empire

After getting this answer, Franz fell into deep thought.Whether to sell the plane to the Russians is also a tangled issue.

Theoretically speaking, the Russians' acquisition of the aircraft is equivalent to obtaining air supremacy in the Afghan war, and the chances of winning the war are higher.

This is what Austria wants to see. Occupying the Afghan region does not mean the end of the Anglo-Russian war, but the beginning of an all-out war between the two countries.

It is related to India's strategic security, whether it is willing or not, the British government can only fight to the end.

With the strength of the British Empire, this war still has to be fought.The more intense the fight between Britain and Russia in Central Asia, the smaller the forces capable of interfering in Europe.

There are advantages and disadvantages. Russia and Austria are allies, but this alliance is also established because of interests. If the core interests of the two countries conflict, the alliance will collapse in minutes.

The plane fell into the hands of the Russians, and it was difficult to keep it secret.As long as the French are willing to pay, it is not difficult to get samples from the Tsarist government.

"If the French or the British get our plane, how long will it take to decipher the technology inside?"

Franz asked concerned.

The crux of the problem lies here. Austria lit up the aircraft technology tree in order to maintain an advantage in the war.

Britain and France are both industrial powers. Once the samples are obtained, it is only a matter of time before the manufacturing technology is deduced in reverse.

Prime Minister Karl: "According to the estimates of the engineers, if an undamaged aircraft falls into the hands of Britain and France, it will only take one to three months for them to deduce the aircraft manufacturing technology.

However, deducing the manufacturing technology does not mean that it can be imitated.Because of the different industrial systems, we have our own standards with Britain and France.

If Britain and France want to imitate directly, they must adjust the standards of industrial mother machines.This requires a lot of time, and without two or three years of hard work, industrial mass production cannot be achieved.

Time waits for no one on the battlefield, and the possibility of directly copying is unlikely.It is more likely to use our aircraft as a blueprint, adjust some designs and then imitate it.

In this way, the time required cannot be estimated, and it mainly depends on the highest industrial level of Britain and France.If their engine technology is qualified, it may only take a few months to imitate it. "

Similar to Franz's judgment, reverse deduction technology is not difficult. As long as you have an aircraft sample in your hand, you can always gain something by disassembling it for research.

The difficulty lies in industrialized production, which involves many fields. Everyone's industrial standard system is different, and it is difficult to achieve a unified standard.

However, aircraft is a high-precision field, and the size of a screw may affect industrial production.

For details, you can refer to some copycat companies in later generations. Low-end and mid-end industrial products are easily imitated, but they are caught blind in the high-tech field.

The samples are in front of us, and the technology has been deduced in reverse, but it cannot be produced.We must know that technical barriers are more difficult to break through than patent barriers.

After entering the end of the 19th century, the technological gap between European countries has not only existed in the concept, but reflected in the industrial field.

Britain, France and Austria have different technology trees. Everyone has their own advantages in certain fields. Aircraft manufacturing happens to be a partial field of Britain and France.

After weighing the pros and cons, Franz made a decision.

"Sell it! But it must be restricted, and the Russians must ensure that the aircraft will not flow out. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent people to watch and delay the diffusion of aircraft technology as much as possible."

As long as there are exports, the proliferation of aircraft manufacturing technology is inevitable.Even if Britain and France do not imitate, the Russians themselves will disassemble and study.

The weapons and equipment exported from Austria to Russia have not escaped the fate of being studied.Not only to be studied, the tsarist government even imitated it.

Although the basic industrial systems of Russia and Austria are the same, the industrial standards of the two sides have long been different.

Most of the time, the production cost of weapons and equipment imitated by the Russians will be much more expensive than imported.

In this context, even the tsarist government has always wanted to get rid of its military dependence on Austria, but in the end it was defeated by the wallet.

This is true of ordinary weapons and equipment, not to mention high-tech aircraft.Franz dared to assert that even if the technical drawings were sent to the Russians, they would not be able to understand them within three to five years.

As long as the finished product does not fall into the hands of the French, even if France and Russia collude secretly, at most a few military experts will be sent to study it, and no amount of it will be kept secret.

Compared with concentrating experts in related fields to participate in research, it is undoubtedly much less efficient to only have individual people participate in research.

Especially knowledge outside the professional field is very easy to be missed.Whether it can be done before the end of the war is still unknown.

Moreover, even if it is done, aircraft technology is also divided into generations.For the aircraft exported to the Russians, as long as they can deal with airships, they don't need to be too advanced at all.

……

In London, after the roar of the ship, a special guest stepped off a luxurious passenger ship.

Arriving in Wudu again, Karel Kadlec's heart is heavy.Even with the welcome queues lined up on both sides, I didn't feel too cold.

As France's only ally, the British government is naturally the focus of the French Foreign Ministry's public relations.In order to show his high regard for the British, Karel Kadlec went out in person.

Unfortunately, judging from the current situation, his plan is basically invalidated.The British only received routinely, and did not come up with a grand welcome ceremony.

Karel Kadlec couldn't help but think about it.In such a special period, if the British intend to support France, they must release a friendly gesture.

The reality is very cruel. The lukewarm attitude of the British has poured cold water on Karel Kadlec's trip to London.

Dragging his tired body, he attended the welcome banquet as usual.Sure enough, no accident happened, not to mention members of the royal family, even high-level British government officials were not present, of course the diplomats in charge of the reception were not counted.

……

At midnight, in the French embassy in London, Karel Cadlecs asked solemnly: "At the banquet just now, I found that George's expression was a bit wrong. What happened in London recently?"

Watching words and demeanor is a basic skill of diplomats, and Karel Kadlecs, the foreign minister, is no stranger to it.

It's just the instinct of a diplomat to cover up his emotions.After noticing George's strangeness, Karel Kadlecs immediately attracted his attention.

There have been no new major international events recently, and the biggest hotspot is the European war, which is still in a stalemate overall.

In the absence of major changes in the international situation, the only thing that can worry the British Foreign Secretary is the domestic political struggle.

As much as he would love to see jokes about British infighting, Karel Kadlecs is well aware that now is not the time.

Once the British government was caught in a political struggle, his trip to London was in vain.Before stabilizing the internal situation, it is difficult for the British to play a substantial role in the European war.

"What happened in London?" Minister Ambroise was taken aback for a moment, and then responded: "No, sir. London has been very stable recently, and nothing major has happened.

If anything, it should be India.There are rumors that the Russians launched a Christmas offensive not long ago, and the British suffered a lot on the battlefield.

The British government has blocked news in this regard, and we will not be able to figure out what happened for a while. "

Hearing the words "block news", Karel Kadlec immediately realized the seriousness of the problem.

You must know that under the British political system, it is not that simple to block news. Most of the time, news from reporters will be one step faster.

There is no way, British politics is taking turns.It is refreshing to block the news, and the opposition party will definitely bring it up afterwards.After the news is exposed, the public's support for the cabinet will drop significantly.

As a last resort, the British government will not do this.

After a little thought, Karel Kadlec said solemnly: "The people who mobilized us should figure out the ins and outs of the matter as soon as possible.

If it really doesn't work, just beat the grass and startle the snake.Find a few street tabloids, release news of the fall of Afghanistan, and test the reaction of the British government. "

Know thyself, ever-victorious.

If you want to pull the British on board, you don't even know what happened in Britain, so how can you do it?

"Your Excellency, this is not good. In case the British find out..."

Before Minister Ambroise finished speaking, Karel Kadlec interrupted: "What are you afraid of, this was originally made for the British.

After staying in London for so long, don't you know what John Bull's style is? "

The more he got to know the British, the less Karel Kadlecs took the so-called "British-French friendship" seriously.

The premise of allies is interests. Without interests, there is no alliance.As long as the interests are in place, no matter how big the conflict is, it will not be able to prevent Britain and France from moving closer.

As for whether it will offend the British government, that is completely overthinking.

Karel Kadlecs did not believe that the British had not installed eyes and ears in the French embassy. It is estimated that the British would know about the plan before it was implemented.

If you really want to do something, you must at least do a good job of keeping it secret.How could anyone give an order in front of many embassy staff?

In essence, Karel Kadlec wanted to use these small means to tell the British: France already knew the news of the defeat of the British army in Afghanistan; now not only France needs Britain, but Britain also needs France.

After all, the Russia-Austria alliance still seems to be very stable. If France really loses in the European war, British India will be in danger.

From this point of view, Britain and France can be regarded as tied together, and both will suffer.

As for whether the British will see it this way, no one has yet been able to answer this question.

Chapter 181 The Unreliable British Nanny

"The French are in a hurry!"

Gladstone came to this conclusion after receiving word of the French release.

It is true that Britain was at a disadvantage in the Afghan war, but it was not to the point where it could panic the British government.

Even if all of Afghanistan falls, as long as the main force of the British army on the front line is not wiped out, the British Empire will have the confidence to win the war.

There is no other reason, money is in the pocket, and the waist is so tough.The century-old accumulation of the British Empire is not a joke. Putting together the background, the Russians are not qualified at all.

Foreign Secretary George analyzed: "The European war has progressed to the present, and the French dream of a quick victory has been terminated.

In the next war, the two sides will fight for comprehensive national strength.Although the French army is powerful, their disadvantages are too obvious in other fields.

Judging from the current situation, if the French cannot cross the Rhine River in a short time and burn the flames of war to the hinterland of Germany, their strategic advantage will be lost.

What greeted them next was Austria's endless counterattack.Arguably, the longer the war lasted, the less likely the French would win it.

According to the current intensity of the war, the French will not be able to continue fighting for another three or two years at most. "

Obviously, George is not optimistic about the French now.The gap in overall strength between the two sides is too great, and it would be a disadvantage to fight to consume the French.

It's just that the French army's prestige is too strong, and no one can guarantee whether the French army will turn against the trend at a critical moment.

After all, similar cases have appeared many times in the history of the struggle between France and the Habsburg dynasty.

After taking out a document, the Minister of Finance Xiaozhi Childers said with a smile: "In two or three years, your Excellency may have overestimated the strength of the French.

In my opinion, whether the French can survive 1891 without external intervention is a question mark.

Let's not mention military issues.Let us first calculate an economic account, and then re-evaluate the strength of the French.

This is the data collected by the Ministry of Finance. In the past three months, the total volume of import and export trade between us and the French has increased by [-] times compared with the same period last year.

Among them, the export trade volume to France increased by 60.00 times, and the total import trade volume shrank by 6486% to [-], achieving a trade surplus of [-] million pounds.

This is only the trade with us. If France’s trade with other countries is included, the French foreign trade deficit in the last quarter of 1890 would not be less than 1.2 million pounds.

If this war does not end, the French foreign trade deficit will continue to increase.

Especially French Africa is about to fall. Once the source of raw materials is lost, the French will need to import more materials.

In the past, the arrogant French wanted to compete for currency hegemony, and they had been promoting the franc to the outside world, and they didn't have many Aegis and British pounds in their hands.

According to the current rate of consumption, it won't be long before the French's foreign exchange reserves will be exhausted.At that time, they can only use gold to trade, and their pitiful gold reserves can't last for a few days at all.

This is still an ideal state, and the real situation may be even more serious.Since Napoleon III, the French government has been adopting a fiscal deficit policy, which has long been heavily in debt.

In the case of insufficient preparation, this war was launched in a hurry. I really have no confidence in the finances of the Paris government. "

Is France rich?

There is no doubt that France, as the third largest economic power in the world, can definitely be regarded as a local tyrant.

However, being rich in France does not mean that the French government is rich.If the front line goes well, the French consortium will naturally help, and vice versa.

Capital knows no borders, no joke.If nothing can be done, the capitalists will not be buried with the government.

The battle is fought over manpower, material resources, and industrial strength, but in the final analysis it is still about financial resources.

Supporting multiple fronts at the same time, the pressure on France is much greater than the world war in the original time and space, and there are no allies to help share it. It will be a matter of time before problems arise.

Glancing briefly at the report, Gladstone asked suspiciously, "How did the trade surplus with France increase so much? I don't remember that the increase in trade volume was so much?"

You must know that the trade volume between Britain and France is not small, and it is understandable that the reduction in import trade is understandable. After all, the French are fighting wars and have no time to produce a large amount of goods for export.

However, the export trade volume suddenly increased by more than six times, that is a myth.

It is completely inconsistent with economic laws. Even if the French increased the import of strategic materials because of the war, it is impossible to be so exaggerated.

No way, it can't be produced!Even if the capitalists try their best to expand production capacity, it takes time to buffer it. It's only been more than three months?

"It's very simple, the prices of the materials we export have increased!"

Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Childers replied unhurriedly.

"France and Austria are looting supplies internationally, and the prices of all supplies have risen to varying degrees.

In particular, the price of strategic materials has basically doubled compared to before the war.The price of some scarce medicines has increased by three or four times.

Of course, we and European countries have raised tariffs on France one after another, which is also one of the factors that promote the rise in prices. "

The capitalists take advantage of the fire to loot, which is the inevitable result.It’s just that this time it’s done too hard, but there is one more Austria that drives up prices, it seems that doubling is not so unacceptable.

Prime Minister Gladstone asked with concern: "What about Austria?"

Chancellor of the Exchequer Xiaozhi Childers shook his head: "Contrary to the French, Austria needs to import very little supplies and is basically self-sufficient.