International arms purchase orders were always full of loopholes. If you didn't reserve a few additional payment items, you wouldn't be a qualified arms dealer.
Relatively speaking, the Government of Vienna was a very conscientious seller. They didn't make trouble on the airship and even gave a lot of spare parts.
However, no matter how conscientious they were, it was inevitable to open ancillary business, and this time was no exception.
It turned out that the transport airship not only needed a large carrying capacity, but also needed a safety guarantee.
In the face of enemy aircraft, the survivability of the transport airship was too low, and fighter escort was necessary.
Unfortunately, the poor Russian government couldn't afford such a high-end new product as air force. With only a flight formation to keep up appearances, it couldn't bear the heavy responsibility of escorting the airship.
If it weren't for the fact that the opposite Japanese Army was also poor and had a limited number of aircraft, the Russian Army would have suffered a great loss.
Although they didn't suffer a great loss, two transport airships on the front line had been shot down, so the airship transport team was forced to suspend business.
Since ancient times, "It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality." The Russian Army was no exception.
When there was no airship transport team, they didn't feel anything. Now that they had it, they suddenly couldn't use it. Naturally, the officers on the front line couldn't sit still.
Since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Army had been suppressed by the Japanese. It wasn't until the development of smuggling trade and the participation of airship transport team that the decline was reversed.
The good days didn't last long, and now they were cut off again. The senior officers of the Russian Army naturally couldn't bear it.
Influenced by the butterfly effect, in recent decades, Russia had been in constant wars, and even the level of officers had been raised to a higher level.
Whether it was professional knowledge or combat experience, they were much richer than the original time and space.
In order to solve the problem once and for all, the headquarters of the Russian Army in the Far East decided to seize the air supremacy and made a perfect combat plan. Now they only lacked air force.
In theory, the Russian Empire could also build fighter jets, and there were many "independent research and development" products with superior performance.
Logically speaking, they should take care of their own enterprises first. Unfortunately, these "superior products" all had various shortcomings.
Not only did the spare parts have to be imported, but even the production and assembly had to be done by large foreign factories.
It couldn't be helped. Everyone fought for a profitable business, and no one cared about a losing business.
The Tsarist government was poor and could not afford to build an air force on a large scale. Civilian use was not widespread, so naturally no one would invest in aircraft production plants, not even assembly plants.
The so-called domestic product only produced an unconstrained designer who wasn't even sure if the design was his or her own.
Unsurprisingly, as a quasi-industrialized country, the Russian Empire was also a counterfeit country.
It was just that other people would optimize the product's performance, reduce production costs, or modify it according to local cultural habits and aesthetics.
Russia's business world was different. First of all, performance was not the first goal. Making people's lives convenient was also not the main goal. Optimizing the product's performance was even more out of the question.
The concept of "buying is better than building" had long been ingrained in people's hearts. If it wasn't for the sake of obtaining subsidies from the Tsarist government or fighting for preferential policies, no one would have gone into industry.
Under such circumstances, everyone's pursuit was limited to being able to produce the product. As for the rest, it was not important.
It wasn't that everyone didn't have a goal, but the industrial supporting system couldn't keep up, and the quality of human labor was also holding them back.
Not to mention the high tech parts, even the high precision screws needed to be imported. It wasn't that they couldn't produce it, but the success rate was too low.
This was also the reason why Russia created "big and black". It wasn't that everyone wanted to play like this, but they really couldn't make a refined product.
In order to ensure normal use, they could only sacrifice other aspects. Therefore, there was no hope for the performance. The only merit worth praising was that it was durable.
However, this merit had a lot of limitations. It was limited to ordinary daily industrial products and not suitable for any high precision products.
Not to mention the high tech products like aircraft. Russia could only produce the first generation of wooden aircraft.
Currently, the most popular aircraft in the world had already transitioned to metal alloys. None of the core technologies could be mastered by Russia.
If they wanted to produce it themselves, all the parts would have to be imported. They couldn't guarantee the performance, but the cost would definitely go up.
Now was a time of war, and obviously it wasn't the time to be arrogant. Rather than forcefully producing the uncertain domestic fighter, it was better to directly purchase the finished fighter.
At least the mainstream fighter equipped by the Shinra Air Force was produced in the hundreds or even thousands, and it had also experienced the test of time.
Nicholas II gently tapped on the seat with his right hand and asked with a frown, "How many fighters do you plan to purchase? How much do you need? How do you solve the problem of the crew? "
Time was the best teacher. After more than ten years as an emperor, Nicholas II was no longer the young boy he used to be.
Perhaps there was still a long way to go before he could become an excellent emperor, but the basic common sense could no longer be fooled.
In fact, it wasn't the first time the Tsarist government discussed the issue of purchasing fighters.
The importance of air supremacy was self-evident. If it could be grasped, no one would give it up. However, in the end, it was left unsettled due to various reasons.
Even though they knew there were difficulties, they still brought it up. The military naturally had to come up with a plan to deal with it.
Minister of War Yevgeny: "According to the intelligence from the front line, we need at least a hundred fighters to seize air supremacy.
Considering the current tense international situation and the possibility of war between England and Austria breaking out at any time, this purchase can't be replenished for a long time in the future. We plan to imitate the Shinra Air Force and form an Air Force Division.
Including the pre-war losses, we need to purchase a total of 400 fighters. The approximate purchase budget is between 30 million to 50 million AOD.
The specific number can only be determined after formal negotiations. In the field of aviation, Shinra has an absolute advantage. Even the British are a generation behind.
With Japan's industrial strength, it's not easy to produce planes to the sky. There's no need to talk about performance at all.
To deal with them, we just need to buy second-hand fighters that are close to retirement from Shinra. Not only can we save costs, but we can also get the stock in the shortest time.
As for the crew, after the outbreak of the war, we commissioned Shinra to help train a group. After more than half a year of training, they can barely be used now. "
(Note: The Holy Roman Empire Air Force Division has three regiments. Each regiment has three flying groups and one maintenance group. Each group is composed of three flying squadrons, and each squadron has eight fighters. The division has a total of 288 fighters and more than five thousand flight and ground crew members.)
His tone was full of disdain. It wasn't hard to see Evgeny's disdain for Japan. Although the Russian Empire wasn't much better, their sense of superiority couldn't be hidden.
No one was surprised by any of this. It was normal to look down on the Japanese. If they treated Japan as an equal, then there would be a real problem.
From the plan, it could be seen that the Russian Army had really improved. If it was a few decades ago, it would have been a "cure for a headache, and a cure for a sore foot." It would have been impossible to prepare in advance.
The war had just broken out, and they were already sending people out for training. Such a proactive approach was obviously different from the Russians' previous crude approach.
However, Nicholas II didn't feel happy. Instead, a sense of despair emerged in the depths of his heart.
A slight analysis of Evgeny's words showed that the Russian Army was too dependent on Shinra. If the two countries were to turn against each other one day, the combat effectiveness of the Russian Army would immediately be greatly reduced.
Knowing this was one thing, but now that the war between Japan and Russia had broken out, Nicholas II couldn't abandon advanced equipment just to get rid of his dependence on Shinra.
Purchasing fighter jets was one thing, but in the recent decades of foreign wars, arms were imported from neighboring countries.
The problem was that they were buying second-hand goods. It was already a disgrace to the Russian Empire. He didn't expect the military to be so calm, which made Nicholas II unhappy.
Although he was unhappy, the Russian Empire was in a hurry. Not to mention the urgency of the war on the front line, just looking at the international situation was enough.
With the deterioration of the relationship between Shinra and Britannia, the international situation suddenly became tense. The whole world could smell the smell of gunpowder.
If they didn't reach an arms purchase agreement as soon as possible and complete the arms transaction, when the war between the two countries officially broke out, even if they had the money, they might not be able to buy it.
Only second-hand equipment could be delivered in the shortest time possible. If they really directly placed an order with the military factory, it would take a few months to complete.
Fortunately, Nicholas II didn't know the real situation. If he found out that almost all the Russian Army was using second-hand equipment, it was estimated that the volcano would really explode.
In a sense, second-hand equipment wasn't bad. Not only was the price cheap, but more importantly, the performance was reliable.
These days, there were many cases of international arms dealers cheating people. If they didn't set a few traps, they would be embarrassed to call themselves an arms dealer.
Ever since the British made a bad start, everyone's moral integrity plummeted. For example, before exporting the most advanced weapons, they would first reduce some of the performance.
The more advanced the weapon, the more it would be weakened. At most, it could only be considered a high-quality imitation.
But no matter how high-quality an imitation was, a fake couldn't be the real thing. If the imitation met the real thing on the battlefield, it would be a tragedy.
The Russian Army used second-hand equipment on a large scale, not because they liked it, but more because the officers and soldiers were afraid of being tricked by the domestic officials.
It couldn't be helped. When the government colluded with the businessmen, there was no hope for domestic weapons of poor quality.
In contrast, the second-hand equipment purchased directly from Shinra was much more reliable. Not only was the performance not reduced, but even the quality had stood the test of time.
"Then let's do it!"
Nicholas II replied calmly. Everyone could see that His Majesty Tsar wasn't in a good mood now.
But even if he wasn't in the mood, he still had to deal with the government affairs. Especially at this critical moment, there was no room for slacking.
Foreign Minister Mihailovich said, "With the intensification of the conflict between Britain and Austria, the situation in Europe has become more and more tense these days.
In order to avoid picking sides again, European countries have come out to call for peace, among which the coastal countries such as the Netherlands and Portugal have been the most active.
So far, we have received notes from 11 countries, hoping that we can take the lead in maintaining neutrality to avoid being involved in the war for hegemony.
Considering the complexity of the situation, it is difficult for us to figure it out in a short time, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not given a direct response. "
It was not easy to be the leader. European countries did not want to be involved in the war, but no one came out to take the lead. This in itself could explain a lot of problems.
The current situation was very obvious. Whoever came out first would bear the majority of the firepower.
If it was 30 years ago, Mihailovich would have accepted such a good opportunity without even thinking about it.
But it was different now. Although the strength of the Russian Empire was growing, its dependence on Shinra was increasing.
In particular, the ongoing war between Japan and Russia needed the support of the Government of Vienna. They couldn't stab the other side and ask for support at the same time, could they?
Not being consistent with the other countries was also a big problem. Without the Russian Empire taking the lead, the so-called common neutrality of all countries was a big joke.
There was no other reason. The political and military pressure exerted by Shinra and Britannia had to be borne by someone, right?
Other than the Russian Empire, who could bear this pressure?
Even Spain, due to its lack of strength, could not bear this heavy responsibility.
Not to mention the other countries, if they did not have enough strength, they would have to pay the price.
No one dared to take the lead to cause trouble, so it was imperative to stand on the side.
In this context, the position of the Russian Empire was crucial, and it acted as a weathervane for the choice of the European countries.
If the Tsarist government supported the Holy Roman Empire, then it meant that there would be no war on the European continent. Everyone would wave the flag and cheer, and there was no need to mix with the British at all.
On the contrary, if the Tsarist government supported Britannia, then this war would be decided by the sea and land lines, and the future would be really uncertain.
After a sigh, Nicholas II stood up from his chair, and after pacing a few steps in the room, he said helplessly, "Let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decide! Anyway, we have no other choice now, right?
Try to use this opportunity as much as possible to fight for greater benefits for the Empire. I'm afraid there will be no more opportunities in the future. "
The reality was so cruel. The Russian Empire, which was deeply bound by Shinra, now had no choice but to follow the path of Vienna.
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