Chapter 456

With the recovery of the economy, the revenue of the Government of Vienna also rose. The government would not keep the money for its children. The revenue had to be spent.

It was not even halfway through the year 1897, and the departments had already begun to prepare for the next year's budget.

The Emperor went on vacation, so the decision-making power of the budget fell to the Crown Prince. Everyone could see that the Emperor was obviously paving the way for his son.

There was nothing to object to. Although the Emperor was still healthy, he was 67 years old. In this era where the average life expectancy was less than 50 years, he could be considered a "long life."

No one could guarantee that the old Emperor would not suddenly meet God one day. From this point of view, it was necessary to train the Crown Prince in advance so that he would not be flustered when the time came.

Unlike the bloody imperial struggle in the East, the European Succession Act was relatively perfect. Even if there were occasional struggles, it was not to the point of cruelty.

At least the internal struggle of the House of Habsburg was not that fierce. Otherwise, Franz's uncle, Ferdinand I, would not have inherited the throne.

Under this background, it was not uncommon to let the Crown Prince take over the Emperor's authority in advance, but it was not unprecedented.

The most typical example was Franz himself. After the Great Revolution, he took over the Emperor's authority as the Crown Prince, and the Regent Council obediently handed over the power.

Rules were rules. As long as everyone insisted on following them, there would be no problems.

It was the same with Frederick The Great, and the situation was even better.

After all, Franz was still alive and well. He just went on vacation. Although this fake time was a little long, it was not a big deal.

With a respected Emperor at the top, no matter what thoughts the people at the bottom had, they had to suppress them first.

Although Franz rarely caused trouble, the bureaucrats of the Government of Vienna would never forget the wonderful scene of "ten thousand people being fired, and a hundred people being cremated."

If someone really counted, they would find that the number of bureaucrats who were fired during Franz's era was more than the total number of bureaucrats in the House of Habsburg in the past hundreds of years.

Of course, the era was different, so there was no comparison. The number of civil servants in the Holy Roman Empire was far greater than any other period in the past.

In the face of an emperor who dared to break the rule of "the law does not punish the majority" and increase the punishment, no one dared to do anything.

These were the experiences and lessons that had been exchanged with the blood of their predecessors.

Since the establishment of the civil service examination system, everyone had a group of substitutes. The previous transcendent status of the bureaucrats no longer existed.

…

Frederick put down the document in his hand and asked helplessly, "Your Excellency, can you tell me the purpose of the Marine building a ship this time?"

The word "respect" was obviously emphasized. It could be seen that Frederick was very dissatisfied with the "warship building plan" submitted by the Navy.

On the surface, there were only a few battleships, dozens of cruisers, and a fleet of destroyers. Based on the scale of the Shenluo Navy, they had to replace a portion of their warships every year. It was not excessive to build so many warships at once.

The problem lay in the "replacement of warships."

There were strict rules for the retirement of Shinra's warships. Either the performance couldn't keep up with the times, or the second-hand warships could be sold, or they had to wait until the end of their service.

After the continuous replacement in the past few years, the Shinra Navy happened to be in an empty period. In the next three years, no main force warships would be retired.

Without retirement, there would be no substitutes. In the next two years, the government would not allocate additional funds to build main force warships.

Without additional funds, the military budget that the Navy could get every year was limited. Naturally, it could support the unremarkable construction plan.

If it was just building a few dozen more warships, it would only cost ten to twenty million BDH. As the owner of an oil company that was worth billions, Frederick The Great wouldn't have such a big reaction.

The problem was that the Navy was never just about warships. Once the number of warships increased, the Navy would also have to increase.

It seemed like they just wanted to build a few more ships, but in fact, they wanted to expand the army. It wasn't something that could be done with ten to twenty million BDH. It would increase the cost of tens of millions of BDH every year.

The Holy Roman Empire was a land power country. If the Navy increased its military budget, the Army would definitely not hesitate. The Air Force would probably join in as well.

The domestic problems were only small problems. The most troublesome ones were the international ones. The British were watching closely. If the Shinra Navy expanded, the Royal Navy would definitely follow.

Needless to say, a new round of naval arms competition would be ignited. By then, whether they were willing or not, the Government of Vienna would have to play a "dumpling contest" with the British.

With a little thought, Frederick The Great knew that the Navy's construction plan was a huge trap. A trap that could swallow up all the new revenue of the Government of Vienna.

Aside from the international impact, the money would be spent on the military budget. How could he, the crown prince, get any political achievements?

Franz asked Frederick The Great to take the opportunity to gain political achievements, prove his ability to govern the country to the outside world, and increase his reputation for the future succession.

If the money was used to play a "dumpling contest" with the British, it was estimated that except for the Navy, everyone would be dissatisfied with him as the crown prince.

Frederick The Great was not William II, who had a dream of being a navy since he was a child. Frederick The Great, who grew up in Vienna, was deeply influenced by the mainland culture and was a typical land power believer.

Frederick The Great had always been very disdainful of the British's maritime hegemony. No matter how powerful the maritime hegemony was, could it be compared to the hegemony of Asia, Europe, and Africa?

In the Holy Roman Empire, the most popular theory was "the one who gets the island of the world gets the world." As for the maritime hegemony, it was just an accessory to the continental hegemony.

When the Holy Roman Empire finished digesting the fruits of victory, the British's maritime hegemony would have to give up.

Therefore, the way Frederick The Great looked at the Navy Minister was, "This is a bad guy, he actually wants to harm me."

As if he was already prepared for the Crown Prince's dissatisfaction, Castagni calmly replied, "Your Highness, the British have been too idle recently, we must find something for them to do.

Seeing that the Central Asia Railway is about to open, we need to create an opportunity for the Russians and use the Russians to consume the British's national strength.

If everything goes well, before the new round of war between Britain and Russia ends, we can take over the responsibility of maritime hegemony from the British.

Before that, if we don't build more warships, how can we fulfill our responsibilities as hegemons? "

No one knew when it started, but the Government of Vienna liked to use Russia's ally as a chess piece.

Now that they were going to replace the British's maritime hegemony, the first reaction of the Navy was to let the Russians go first.

If you looked at the history books, you would find that in the recent decades, all the major enemies that the Government of Vienna faced, the Russians helped beat them up first.

In the First Near Eastern War (Crimean War), they beat up the Fao Seman, which created the foundation for Austria to annex South Germany.

In the two Prussian Wars, they helped abolish Prussia, which successfully prevented the civil war of Shinra from breaking out.

In the next few Near Eastern Wars, Russia and Austria also fought together, and successfully eliminated the Osman Empire.

Although the Russians were absent in the European War, they still made outstanding contributions to the suppression of France, and they were still fighting.

Now, when Vienna and London were fighting, they didn't expect that the Russians would come in handy. Before the decisive battle, someone in the Government of Vienna wanted to provoke a war between Britain and Russia.

Judging from the current situation, with the opening of the Central Asia Railway, the probability of a war between Britain and Russia was increasing.

Therefore, it was inevitable that Russia and Austria would be friendly. Where else could they find such a considerate ally?

Although maintaining a friendly relationship between Russia and Austria cost a lot of money, compared to the contributions made by the Russians, it was not worth mentioning.

Frederick The Great admitted that he was tempted, but he quickly reacted. The opening of the Central Asia Railway was two years later. What was the hurry now?

Even if they wanted to provoke a war between Britain and Russia, they must wait until the railway was opened.

Before that, they would let the British idle. They would be busy in the future, and there was no need to be in a hurry.

In particular, the recent actions of the Government of London were constantly challenging the bottom line of the Tsarist government. Over time, these small conflicts would evolve into irreconcilable hatred between the two countries.

…