The navy's shipbuilding plan was rejected by Franz, but the naval budget in 1851 increased by more than one million gulfs again, reaching a height of 12.681 million gulfs.

The Austrian government's attitude of attaching importance to the navy is obvious, but no matter how much it pays attention, it cannot change the essence of Austria as a land-powered country.

In 1851, the army's military expenditure increased faster, soaring to 61.2462 million rupiahs. The large reserve strategy was officially launched. According to the plan, 200,000 reserves will be increased every year from now on.

The total military budget of the Austrian Empire in 1851 increased by nearly 20% compared with 1850, and the pace of war was approaching.

How could the actions of the Russians as neighbors be hidden from the Austrian government? Not long ago, Nicholas I used the excuse of expanding to a distance to impose a war tax.

If there was no secret agreement between Russia and Austria, everyone might be skeptical and would not be sure of the Russians' war target. The Austrian government, who knew the truth, is already 99% sure that the Russian-Turkey War is about to break out again.

In this case, the Austrian government, as an ally, will naturally follow up. If there were no Russians to break the situation, how would Austria's strategy be carried out?

Thanks to the Russians' big moves, the Austrian government's increase in military expenditures was not at all disturbing. In the eyes of the outside world, this is a normal reaction. No matter how vigilant a neighbor like a hairy bear is, it is necessary.

The situation in Europe has always been a hindrance, and the arms race can also be contagious. Although neither Russia nor Austria intends to provoke an arms race, everyone still followed suit.

Governments have increased military spending, and the British have been exceptional to the army arms race, and they never participated.

Not all countries have such good financial conditions. The Kingdom of Prussia, which is financially difficult, did not follow up this time.

Frederick William IV is not a fool. He played the arms race with Russia and Austria. The Kingdom of Prussia could not afford it at all. Military expenditures exceeded half of the fiscal revenue, and if they continued to increase, they would have to go bankrupt.

The French, who were also financially in trouble, followed suit. Although the French government had no money, the private consortium had money and just borrowed money from banks.

This is the foundation of an old empire and has sufficient financial support. This is why France was able to become the second country among the great powers to complete industrialization after Britain.

The time when Belgium completed industrialization was very close to the British, but their industrial system was incomplete and many industries did not exist.

Although Belgium completed industrialization first, it still could not compare with several powerful people in terms of industrial strength, but it only had advantages in some areas.

Vienna

Prime Minister Felix said, "Your Majesty, influenced by the Russians' preparations for war, except for the financially difficult Kingdom of Prussia, there has been no action yet, and European countries have begun to expand their arms to prepare for war.

Just a week ago, with the support of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the French government passed the military expansion bill, and the French army expanded another 50,000. After the expansion was completed, their total strength reached 436,000, second only to Russia.

For our next strategy, the threat from the French has risen to the top, and we must be vigilant and ready to respond.”

France has always been a traditional European army power, fighting with the Habsburg dynasty for hundreds of years, and the French army reached its peak in the Napoleon era.

Everyone was very vigilant about the French. After learning about France's military expansion plan, the Austrian government immediately held a cabinet meeting.

Franz frowned, knowing that this was not a big deal, and that no matter how much the French threat was taken seriously.

"How many garrisons are there in France?" Franz asked with concern.

It doesn't matter if there are many French soldiers, and they have many colonies, and there are always people who need to be stationed. The key is to look at their concentrated troops in their homeland, which is the existence that may pose a threat to Austria.

Prime Minister Felix replied: "It was 221,000 before the expansion, but it was still uncertain after the expansion was completed. The worst case scenario is that all the 271,000 troops remained on the local area."

Franz breathed a sigh of relief. After the Russians took action, Britain and France would definitely help the Ottoman Empire. Then there would obviously be so many French army left on the local area.

Since the reserve system has become bad, it takes a certain amount of time for the French to expand their army to form combat effectiveness, and this is an opportunity.

What he was most worried about was that the French government restored the reserve system and returned to the Napoleonic era. The war mobilization mechanism that could recruit millions of troops at any time was the greatest threat.

Obviously, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte had poor military capabilities. Otherwise, during the French-Prussian War, he would not have mobilized only 220,000 troops and fought a decisive battle with the Prussians in a hurry, and was beaten up by others with more than twice the advantage of the troops.

Perhaps because the loss was too unfair, the French were not convinced after the war. After the British provoked it, France and Germany became unfamiliar with the deadly enemies.

Franz asked uncertainly: "If the French were just using so much military intervention, we should be able to hold on, right?"

Professional questions need professional answers.

Franz believes that he still has a certain military level, which is mainly reflected in strategy. If it is specific to tactics, there is probably no problem in commanding combat below the regiment level.

Nowadays, there is a battle between hundreds of thousands of troops, and Marshal Ladsky, the Chief of Staff, has a greater say. He has fought with the French army at his peak and has personal experience.

Marshal Radsky thought about it and replied: "Your Majesty, the current French army is no longer as invincible as the Napoleon era. After so many years of hardship, it has long since disappeared.

With the same force, we can fight the French.

If we wait until the Kingdom of Bavaria has built the railway and then take military action, within a week we will be able to reach Baden and block the French from the country.”

Since seeing the Austrian government's railway network strategy, Marshal Radsky has discovered the huge military use of railways.

Since railways can be used to transport goods, they can naturally be used to transport troops, and can also effectively provide logistical support.

The Southern Germany region is not a tiger's den, and Austria has been operating in these areas for many years. It is almost like sweeping troops. With nationalists as the leader, it is difficult for these small states to resist.

As long as the speed is fast enough and these small states do not give the opportunity to collude with the French, there will be no major changes.

It doesn't even take too long, only two or three months. After politically sanctioning the leadership of various countries, the armies of these German states can transform themselves and fight against the French invaders with the Austrian army.

After gaining support from local people, Austria was invincible. France is no longer the era of Napoleon and can be pushed forward all the way.

Secretary of the Army, Prince Wendyschgratz, said: "Not only in the Southern German region, if the French send troops to intervene, they may also engage in Lombardy with the Kingdom of Sardinia to fight on both sides."

Marshal Radsky shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter, they hit theirs, we hit ours.

If France dares to send its main force to the Italian region, at most it will be a matter of Italian region, so we will go directly to Paris.

In terms of distance, we are even more advantageous. I don’t know whether we can capture Paris, but we can bet with the French government.

If we lose a bet, we will be a Lombard. If we win the bet, the price the French will have to pay will be greater."

Looking at the two of them, everyone tacitly did not participate. This was exactly the effect Franz wanted. If there was no conflict between the Army Department and the General Staff, he would have to replace him.

It has nothing to do with trust, it is the instinct of the emperor's balance technique.

If the subordinates collude, they will deceive their superiors and hide their subordinates. There are not only one or two emperors who have been undermined in history.

We can't let our subordinates fight each other. Everyone is busy fighting intra-fighting, who will do things?

Prince Wendyschgretz thought about it and retorted: "The French are not paper-made, how could they conquer it in a short time?

Once Paris was unable to be conquered, the war was in a deadlock, and the French's advantage in fighting on the local area was reflected, and they could soon mobilize hundreds of thousands of cannon fodder.

These cannon fodder troops have not been trained, but when defending their country, they can rely on morale to make up for the lack of training.

At that time, due to logistics supplies, we will still withdraw in vain, and it will be difficult for Italy to take back the lost one."

Marshal Radsky said unwillingly: "Even if we can't conquer Paris, we can still hurt the French.

They can concentrate their troops to defend Paris, and they will not have any guards in other areas. If they refuse to compromise, we will burn, kill, loot and destroy their industrial and commercial system in the northeast.

I dare not say anything else, to create millions of homeless refugees, encourage these people to rob and plunder, and spread the chaos throughout France.

They are too busy to take care of themselves in their own country, can they still not withdraw their troops from Italy? Only the Kingdom of Sardinia still has the ability to stop us from regaining the Italian region?”

As expected, the old guys are all tough guys. If they really do this, the French probably won’t be able to recover their vitality for more than ten years, and the Austral and Fa has become mortal enemies. The mainstream of international contradictions in the future is the Austral and Fa conflict.

What would happen if Franz had chosen? Of course, he did it, but he became an enemy anyway. What is the difference between doing fifty and doing one hundred?

If you make enemies, you will become enemies. Who is afraid of whom? At worst, you can pretend to be grandchildren to the British and not challenge the maritime power. Austria's geographical location determines that the threat from the sea is almost zero.

After lying down the French, the military spirit was shot out. The Austrian Empire, which unified the Southern German region, was completely reborn.

Metternich became a peacemaker and said with a smile: "Don't be so angry, as long as we choose the right time and create a certain fact, the French are likely to default.

They are not fools. If I invested 300,000 to 400,000 troops in the South German region and they did not have the same force, how could they risk sending troops?

Besides, if the French want to interfere with us, the best route for sending troops is to come from the Rhineland. Do the Prussian Kingdom dare to lend it to them?

When we take action, the Kingdom of Prussia will most likely follow up. The French opposed our unification of the Southern German region. Are they willing to watch the Kingdom of Prussia unification of the Northern German region?

They were eyeing the land west of the German Federation of Rhine, and a powerful Prussian kingdom was not in their interest.

In the future, we and Prussia will remain allies in dealing with the French.”

After listening to Metternich's explanation, everyone looked happy. Looking for persimmons to pinch them, bullying the soft and being afraid of the hard are the themes of this era.

What the French want is not in the hands of Austria, and even if they interfere with the unification of the German region, it is essentially for the benefit.

On the contrary, the Kingdom of Prussia had to fight against the French if it wanted to preserve the territory west of the Rhine. Want to compromise? Do the nationalists in the country agree?

Franz said slowly, "Okay, the French issue ends here. The problem now is the arms race among European countries, and our good neighbor, the Kingdom of Prussia, can no longer hold on.

It seems that this Prussian war has not been in vain. In the short term, the Prussian Kingdom will find it difficult to get out of the predicament, which is also a good thing for us.

Judging from the current situation, the Russians should have launched a war in 1851, and at the latest it will not exceed 1852. Should we escalate the arms race?"

There is no doubt that the only countries in which the army on the European continent can threaten Austria are Russia, France and the Prussian Kingdom. Now the Prussian Kingdom is in a financial crisis and cannot keep up. At this time, the arms race is escalating. The three countries of Russia, France and the Austria are escalating.

Prime Minister Felix gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, we can bet that after the Russians provoke war, Britain and France will send troops to intervene, and the war opportunity to unify the Southern German region will appear.

Now we upgrade the arms race and eliminate the Prussian Kingdom first. If we have one less competitor, we will have one more chance of success.

If you lose the bet, you can only implement the Balkan strategy first and you will never lose money!”

How could it be a loss? In the eyes of Prime Minister Felix, not going westward to Germany and running to divide the Balkans was a loss-making deal.

But in order to gain the support of the Balkans, he also took the initiative. When the fighter appeared, he unified the Southern German region. If he did not appear, he could only grab a rabbit and go to the Balkans to make up for the losses.

Marshal Radsky said excitedly: "Your Majesty, this is a risk worth taking. If you lose, you will be tens of millions of shields. If you win, you will be South Germany!"

If you really lose, the worst is that it will only cost tens of millions of military expenditure. This is not a complete waste, and at least it will increase military strength.

The Austrian government is not a bad head, so it has to bite the bullet and rush up.

If the international situation is unfavorable and cannot move westward, you can go to the south to bully the Ottoman Empire and make up for the losses. Even if Russia really goes to the Far East to eat ice, Austria will not be timid.

Thinking of this, Franz had already made a decision in his mind.

Xinhaiyue 1 says

Many book friends were misled, believing that Prussian industry surpassed France. In fact, France's industry has always been the second largest in Europe, and it surpassed the French after Germany was unified.

This is data. In 1865, the industrial output value of the German region accounted for 13% of the world, while France accounted for 10%. However, the German region is not equal to Prussia, which is a completely different concept. Even this German region is not just the later German Empire, but also some parts of Austria.

The first to complete industrialization was Britain, Belgium, and then France and Germany.
Chapter completed!