Chapter 465

As the budget battle intensified, Franz returned to the Vienna Palace at the end of October, ending his vacation in advance.

He could go on vacation at any time. As an emperor, he had to prioritize national affairs. Although he was training the crown prince, it didn't mean that he was completely letting it go.

There were many pitfalls in politics, but there were many pitfalls in the road ahead. There was no harm in stepping on small pitfalls. He could just take it as a lesson learned.

However, there were also pitfalls that should never be stepped on. If one stepped on them, they might fall into them and never get out again.

For example, the annual budget allocation that was currently in progress. Once something went wrong, it would be a fatal injury.

If the needs of all parties could not be balanced and the budget was taken for granted, or if the budget was invested in one or several aspects based on ideals and benefits, it would be over.

If someone added fuel to the fire, even if Frederick The Great was the crown prince, he would not be able to bear the consequences. At the very least, he would not be able to take off the hat of incompetence.

A crown prince who had yet to inherit the throne but was already labeled as' incompetent ', even if he did inherit the throne, it would be difficult to convince the people.

It wasn't like similar things had never happened before. Franz had suffered at the beginning of his succession, but it was just in time for the counterattack against the Kingdom of Sardinia, and he pushed the blame to the war.

Now that the world was at peace, and there was no war to help him take the blame, the budget allocation was quite a test.

Of course, if he didn't want to take the responsibility, he could also push the task to the prime minister. However, this would lead to the power of the prime minister, and the emperor would accidentally become a rubber stamp.

Then, his fate would be placed in the hands of others. If he met a black-hearted person, the royal family might become a clown on the stage.

In the end, it would be the people under him who reaped the benefits, and the emperor would be responsible for taking the blame. Similar things had happened many times in history.

On this issue, the country and companies were actually the same.

Many people worked hard to start a business, but in the end, they were tricked into leaving it to professional managers instead of training their own descendants to take over.

It seemed very scientific, but the final outcome was usually a tragedy.

Just look at the performance of listed companies. In the past 37 years, the delisting rate of listed companies in the United States was as high as "72%", and the delisting of these companies was almost all due to the professional managers.

And with the decline of morality and the continuation of the fast-paced society, this rate continued to rise.

Although the company was destroyed, the professional manager who managed the company made a fortune in the process. The real losers were only the shareholders.

Even if there were occasionally a few enterprises that developed, the owner of the enterprise would change, and it would have nothing to do with the founder of the enterprise.

Companies that truly relied on managers to manage and did not have any problems were all personally restrained by the major shareholders to prevent the management of the company from running wild.

It was the same for a country. Once the Emperor stopped managing things, the bureaucrats would quickly let go of themselves. Then, they would deteriorate at a visible speed until they were emptied …

As the saying goes, "Flowers don't bloom for a hundred days". It was the law of nature to decline after reaching the peak. Watering and fertilizing were just to let the flowers bloom for a few more days.

It was the same for the country. No one knew what the future held. In any case, it was full of uncertainty, so he might as well leave his territory to his own people.

Even if he wanted to squander, it was better to squander in the hands of his own descendants than to let others squander. Time, Franz of Franof the Was of of of of.

The plan to divide the countries was not only for practical purposes, but also to diversify the investment. Put the eggs in different baskets and increase the risk resistance as much as possible.

Everything that could be done was done. The rest was not Franz's concern. Anyway, as long as he was alive, there would definitely be no problems.

Palace of Vienna

After listening to Frederick The Great's report, Franz nodded with satisfaction. There were no major mistakes. That was good enough.

To be able to ensure the normal operation of the Empire in times of peace proved that Frederick The Great had the ability to control the Empire.

As for times of war?

It was unlikely that they would meet Frederick The Great. Once the war for maritime supremacy came to an end, the Holy Roman Empire would become the only superpower.

With Shinra's strong strength, they would not be able to find an equal opponent for a long time in the future.

Unless there was an alien invasion, Shinra could only beat them up.

During Frederick The Great's era, there would be some local wars at most. It would not be a challenge at all. After that, it would be the "nuclear pacification" era. The probability of a war would be even smaller.

After the report, Franz smiled and asked, "Frederick The Great, what do you think of the Navy's plan for all heavy artillery battleships?"

It was as if he did not expect Franz to ask this question. Frederick The Great was stunned for a moment, then replied, "It looks good, but it's too expensive.

If we can make a battleship with all heavy artillery, the British can do it too. By then, it will be another naval arms race.

Even though our industrial strength exceeds that of the British, the amount that the government can invest in the navy will not be much more than the British. In the end, it is likely that both sides will suffer heavy losses.

The probability of winning may be lower than the Air Force's Terminator plan. At least if the Air Force is forced into a corner, they can still use planes to hit warships.

Of course, in the long run, it is not unacceptable for both sides to suffer heavy losses. It is just that this will benefit the Americans and Russians.

Recently, the United States and the Tsarist government have been in a heated relationship. Who knows when these two peripheral countries will form an alliance.

Even though in the short term, their national strength is far inferior to the British, their development potential is higher than Britannia's.

The British were eliminated, and two competitors with greater potential appeared. It was a trade that did not make up for the losses.

For the sake of the Empire, we must take down the British while also inheriting their legacy. Otherwise, all our efforts will be in vain.

To do this, we must ensure that after defeating the British, the Imperial Navy still has the strength to suppress the other countries in the world. "

It was inevitable that they were pessimistic.

Although the Holy Roman Empire's revenue was high, its expenses were equally high. It was impossible for the government to invest all of its revenue into the construction of the navy.

In terms of pure financial resources, Shinra did not have an advantage in the short term. Unless the time was delayed for a decade or two, when Shinra's economy developed further, the Government of Vienna would have the financial resources to crush the British.

In contrast, the Air Force's "Terminator Plan" was more optimistic. With the continuous development of aviation technology, the load capacity of aircraft also increased day by day.

Until now, the largest strategic bomber of the Shinra Air Force could carry two tons of ammunition.

Coupled with a special giant bomb, it was enough to pose a threat to a battleship. The only problem was the lack of accuracy. It was difficult to accurately hit the target.

However, the Air Force had begun to think of ways to solve this problem. If the accuracy was not good, they could use quantity to make up for it.

At most, it would depend on luck. With thousands of bombers, there would always be a few lucky ones. As long as they were willing to spend money, they could destroy the Royal Navy.

If they were really unlucky, they could use the planes to hit a battleship. Although it was a joke, this kind of suicide attack was very effective.

During the war against France, there was a reconnaissance plane that encountered an accident in the air and could not return normally.

At the last moment, the pilot bravely crashed into a French warship, causing a huge firework to explode.

There was more than one similar case, but most of them did not hit the target. However, as long as they hit the target, the effect was exceptionally good.

Of course, it did not mean that the Shinra pilots were really not afraid of death. The main thing was that once an accident happened on the sea, there was no chance of survival.

Landing on the sea was completely overthinking. It was not a seaplane. When an ordinary plane landed on the sea, it would sink to the bottom of the sea.

Parachuting was equivalent to feeding the fish in the sea. Not to mention that the news could not be sent back, even if it was sent back, the rescue personnel would not arrive.

Choosing to crash into the enemy's battleship was equivalent to pulling one down with them before death. At the same time, they could also contribute to their families. After all, the military merit of death was still valid, and the rewards would not be reduced.

According to the plan of the Air Force, if it really came to a critical moment, they could really go all out. As long as the suicide squad searched seriously, they would be able to find them.

If they really did not have enough people, they could also create artificial accidents. In the end, there were too many who chose to pull the enemy down with them.

Politics was as dark as it could get. As long as the benefits were big enough, there was nothing that politicians could not do.

Franz laughed and scolded, "The Air Force's Terminator plan is the real bad idea. Thousands of bombers, how dare they even think about it.

While aviation technology is developing, the construction cost of aircraft is constantly rising, and the requirements for the quality of pilots are also constantly increasing.

When the technology is really in place, the cost of thousands of bombers is estimated to be enough to build hundreds of battleships.

And it's cheap, I think the most expensive thing in the future will be the Air Force. Just wait, in less than 30 years, the Air Force's military expenditure will be on par with the Army and Navy. "

If not for the experience from his previous life, perhaps Franz would also be fooled by the Air Force's plan. After all, the pie in the sky that the Air Force offered looked very tempting.

It was a pity that this thing was delicious, but it was really not cheap!

Planes were not valuable now. Thousands of bombers only cost a few tens of millions of EDM. Including the pilots and logistical maintenance, it was not that expensive.

The future was different. Very soon, planes worth tens of thousands of dollars would become obsolete, and they would be replaced by goods worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions of dollars.

Whether or not the entire Holy Empire could afford to maintain over a thousand bombers was an unknown factor, let alone assemble over a thousand bombers in one go.

Moreover, the enemy was not a fool. The British were also developing their air force. If they attacked the enemy's base, the enemy's air force would also fight back.

How many fighter escorts would be needed to cover thousands of bombers?

This problem was scary just thinking about it. Otherwise, during World War II, the German and German air forces would have sent the entire Royal Navy into the sea.

It was not that they did not want to, but they simply could not do it. Instead of carrying out the Air Force's unreliable plan, Franz felt that the Navy's plan was good.

"Full Heavy Artillery Battleship" was the original space-time dreadnought. It was originally created by the British, but in the end, it almost buried the Royal Navy.

Regardless of whether they could surpass the Royal Navy in the end, at least they pulled both sides to the same starting line and smoothed out the advantages that the Royal Navy had accumulated in the early stages.