On October 11th, 1862, the Kingdom of Prussia's first ironclad, Frederick The Great, was tested. William I personally presided over the ceremony to show his determination to develop the navy.
They had really made up their minds. Seeing the neighboring Austrian nobles making a fortune from the overseas colonization campaign and being manipulated by the capitalists in the country, the Juncker nobles could no longer hold it in.
Many young people had long been dissatisfied with the conservatism of the government. The Austrians had only established their overseas colonies for less than a decade, and they already had a territory five to six times the size of their own country.
Many people optimistically believed that as long as they joined the colonization campaign, they would quickly become rich and reach the pinnacle of their lives.
"The future of the world lies in the ocean". No one knew who first said this, but it was now widely accepted by European society.
When the overseas colonies were first established, Franz also added fuel to the fire and this theory was now widely spread in the German Region.
The ironclad was recognized as the highest level of modern naval technology. In just a few years, the United Kingdom, France, America, Portugal, and the Netherlands had all built their own ironclad warships.
Now that the Kingdom of Prussia finally had its own ironclad warship, many people were celebrating. Only the government officials knew the gap between their ironclad warships and the naval powers.
After all, the navy of Prussia was dispensable for a long time. Most of the time, it acted as a coastal police force, even worse than the neighboring Denmark.
The reason for promoting the ironclad warships was to inspire the people. The development of the Kingdom of Prussia had not been smooth in recent years, and the people needed a piece of good news.
William I asked with concern, "How is the naval training going? When can we open the overseas colonies?"
Ron, the Minister of War and Minister of the Navy, had a change of expression and replied with a bitter smile, "Your Majesty, our navy is too weak.
Before the expansion of the army, the navy only had a little more than 1300 officers and soldiers, including all the civil servants in the Ministry of the Navy.
It will take at least another two to three years to form a fighting force. Of course, if the enemy is just the natives, this is not a problem. "
The Minister of War was still the Minister of the Navy, and this was also the result of a compromise. Even though the Juncker nobles coveted the benefits of opening up overseas colonies, they were still unwilling to give up the leadership of the military.
There was nothing wrong with the army leading the navy. After all, the navy officers and soldiers were directly transferred from the army. They didn't even mention the Marine Corps. They were definitely the strongest Navy in land warfare, not one of them.
Ron, who was originally in charge of the army reform, tragically found himself in charge of the Prussia navy. In other countries, amateurs would at most lead professionals, but here, amateurs would lead amateurs.
The Prussia's Navy was the marine police of the Kingdom of Prussia. Their usual job of fighting smuggling.
Now that the thousands of Army soldiers had joined, they were even more amateurs. From top to bottom, they were all amateurs, so Ron was naturally under a lot of pressure.
The navy was not like the army, where a few months of training was enough to go to the battlefield. Ron, and Prussia. Navy was Prussia.
William said, "Navy. Ron, Ron, Re. of Germany, King, and King Than Germany, Long Navy, United., over, and the army, over, of the Kingdom, Germany, by Kingdom, and all., King
William the First asked in surprise, "It actually took such a long time? How did the Austrians expand their navy? Or is it that their soldiers' training is not up to standard?"
Indeed, the Austrian navy had expanded rapidly in recent years. Since 1850, the tonnage of the Austrian navy had increased several times, making it the third most powerful navy in the world.
Ron explained, "Your Majesty, the Austrian navy has been active in the Mediterranean Sea. They are not well-known, but in fact, their navy is very strong. The Venetia region is a traditional naval power.
They have a complete naval technology inheritance and talent training system.
The Metternich era did not pay attention to the development of the navy, so the Austrian navy faded in everyone's mind. Now that the Government of Vienna is paying attention, they naturally caught up. "
In fact, the rapid development of the Austrian navy was also due to luck. In the era of sailing warships, naval technology had reached a bottleneck. Even the British technology was not much more advanced than other countries.
After the advent of the ironclad warship era, sailing warships were eliminated. The previous experience and technology had fallen behind, and it was time to reshuffle.
To some extent, it was now the easiest time for other countries to catch up with the British. After all, the technology of ironclad warships had just been developed. The gap was not to the point of despair.
Hearing this explanation, William sighed. He had thought that the century-old navy was just something the British boasted. He did not expect it to be true.
Without a foundation, it would take decades to build a strong navy from scratch, even if it did not take a hundred years.
"Not long ago, the Austrians proposed to us to jointly develop the Nanyang region. This is a rare opportunity.
If the cooperation goes well, we can directly use the Austrian colonies to obtain supplies and obtain the first colony in the Nanyang region. "
Logistics was also an obstacle the colonial empires set for the latecomers. Everyone only welcomed merchant ships from various countries to resupply. If warships wanted to get supplies, they had to communicate in advance.
If it was just an overseas visit, then it was easy. Everyone was willing to do this business. If they wanted to open up an overseas colony, deeper communication was needed.
In short, there was no need to think about getting everyone's help without paying a high enough price.
This was quite disharmonious for the latecomers. It was impossible to transport everything from the country when opening up an overseas colony. Purchasing nearby was the best way to reduce costs.
In order to obtain logistical supplies, Austria signed an agreement with the three countries, promising not to seek their colonies in any way. Only then did they obtain everyone's understanding.
These agreements had been fulfilled by Franz. In the overseas colonization activities, Austria did not seize any of the colonies of any country. They only took the unclaimed land.
Now the Kingdom of Prussia was facing the same problem. If they could not solve the logistical supply problem, the cost of colonization could make anyone despair.
Sign an agreement like an agreement? Dream on. The Kingdom of Prussia's political influence was deteriorating day by day. Why should everyone give them face?
In this world where fists spoke, with the strength of the Prussia Navy, the other countries did not even bother to look at it. Even the Portuguese could destroy the Prussia Navy two or three times.
Especially when the army directly turned into a navy, it became a laughing stock in Europe. No one thought that the Kingdom of Prussia was developing a navy at all. Many newspapers directly mocked the Prussia Navy as an army fleet.
Ron asked with concern, "Your Majesty, what do we need to pay?"
There was no such thing as a free lunch in the sky. If it did fall, it could still kill people. Ron did not think that Austria would help Prussia for free. This big bargain was definitely not easy to pick up.
William I sneered and said, "They still think of themselves as the boss of the German Region. They are going to pull us, the little brothers, over as thugs.
The Nanyang region is a gathering of various countries. In recent years, the Austrians have spread out too much, and the strength that can be invested in the Nanyang region is limited.
In order to guarantee their interests in the Nanyang region, the Government of Vienna invited us and the German Federal Empire to join this time.
Of course, they also have the intention of roping in our country's nobles. That little brat Franz always talks about the unification of Germany, as if he is afraid that others don't know. "
This was an overt plot. Even if he knew that the bait might be poisonous, William I still had to swallow it.
They couldn't not open up overseas colonies just because there might be hidden dangers, right?
It was not the first time that Austria had tried to win the hearts of the people in Prussia. In recent years, more than 150,000 immigrants had entered the Austrian colony of Prussia.
Many of the overseas colonial teams in the Kingdom of Prussia were now under the banner of the Austrians. If these people did not fall to Austria, the Government of Vienna would have to be crazy to shelter them.
William I had a sense of crisis. He was very worried that if this continued, he did not know when he would be sold by his subordinates. The specific situation could be referred to the Kingdom of Bavaria.
After joining Austria. The Kingdom of Bavaria developed well. The traditional textile center of the German Region had a second spring again.
In order to solve the supply of industrial raw materials, the Government of Vienna had specially opened up cotton plantations in West Africa.
In contrast, Baden, which stayed in the German Federal Empire, was a tragedy. It was also the center of the cotton industry in the German Region, but now it was limited by the lack of raw materials and gradually declined.
With the power of example, William I had no confidence in the people under his opponent. Even the Juncker nobles couldn't believe it.
After all, if the boss changed, the nobles would still be the nobles, and the capitalists would still be the capitalists. Everyone's core interests would not be damaged, and they might even get more.
In order to avoid the worst from happening, William I had to find a way to open up a new path. Otherwise, the Kingdom of Prussia would be annexed by Austria sooner or later.
William I was not willing to play politics with the House of Habsburg. This was not his strength.
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