Chapter 493

The French's little tricks were not out of Franz's expectations. As Austria continued to grow, it was only a matter of time before the French felt threatened.

There were not many countries in Europe that were qualified to be France's allies. Compared to winning over the British, the Government of France was naturally more inclined to win over the Russians.

This was determined by geographical location. The spheres of influence of France and Russia did not border each other. Even if there were conflicts, it was a problem left over from history. The conflict of interest between the two countries was not big.

In contrast, the conflict between Britain and France was not only a problem left over from history, but also a large number of direct conflicts of interest.

From the colonies to the mainland, there were serious strategic conflicts between Britain and France. In this year, the conflict between Britain and France was still the main conflict in the international arena. Even the conflict between the Fao had to stand aside.

In addition to the Government of France feeling threatened, the French people were still immersed in the glory of the Napoleonic era and did not take Austria, a defeated country, seriously.

The environment could also affect people. Otherwise, the French government would have tried to rope in the Russians a long time ago. They wouldn't have waited until now.

In the face of interests, any ally was unreliable. As long as the French offered a high enough price, France and Russia were inevitable.

However, without experiencing the defeat of the Franco-Prussian War, it would be too difficult for the Government of France to win over the Russians, which was too difficult for Napoleon Iv.

In the original world, the Franco-Russian alliance was won over by a large loan. As a price, the French Navy directly fell behind and was surpassed by Germany and the United States in the early 20th century.

The so-called Navy deviated from the research and development of submarines and small ships. It was not only because the French Navy was crazy, but more importantly, the military budget was not enough.

Without money, what was the point of playing the Navy?

The cost of a battleship alone was tens of millions of francs. With a series of issues such as follow-up maintenance costs, port construction, and so on, it was not surprising that the amortized cost was more than 100 million.

While maintaining the Continental Army, they had to build dozens of battleships. The government's money would be spent, and so would the private financing. Where would they find the money to rope in the Russians?

Although the Russian Empire was not as powerful as it was in the same period in history, and its wallet was much thinner, it was bigger than the original world!

Alexander III was not as easy to fool as Nicholas II. If the French didn't offer a high enough price, he would not be tempted at all.

Of course, roping them in would definitely have an effect. After all, "one's hands are tied after receiving favors from others." It would definitely not be a problem to ease the relationship between France and Russia.

If the price was higher and the political means were more powerful, it was possible to find a suitable entry point to break up the Russo-Austrian Alliance.

To make the Tsarist government work for the French, this was not something that could be swayed by a little bit of interest.

The Russians were the mercenaries of this era, and they were also the mercenaries of the highest value.

It just so happened that this mercenary with a sky-high price did not have a good reputation. More than once, he took the money but did not do anything. How could the employers rest assured?

Since of the mercenary of the reputation was temporarily, Franz was not.

Not a battleship. That thing was not suitable for an emperor who was seasick. The Royal One was a luxury sedan under the Austrian Automobile Group. It was a symbol of status and was specially designed for the rich.

Royal Royal Of Time was a luxury car of the Austrian Automobile Group. It was a symbol of status and was designed for the rich.

Of course, "car art" was not popular in this era. A family car was a luxury that ordinary people could not hope to own.

The real competitiveness of Royal Royal Of Time was its excellent performance. Since it was produced for the emperor, there was no need to consider the cost.

The technology and craftsmanship used were the limits of this era.

4-cylinder engine, 90 horsepower, maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour. After a full tank of fuel, it could run at full speed for 3.5 hours.

In addition to super speed, Royal Royal Of Time also had unparalleled stability and super safety protection facilities, including special steel and epoch-making bulletproof glass all over the body.

Franz had personally tested it. The bulletproof glass could block a rifle, and the protection of the body could block a grenade.

Of course, this was only limited to the explosion when thrown outside. It could block shrapnel, but if thrown under the tires, it would still be lethal.

In a sense, this thing could be modified and used as an assault tank on the battlefield.

However, after seeing the terrifying cost, Franz decisively gave up on this tempting idea. Tank troops were still a long way off.

There was no other way. Most of the high-tech equipment was limited to laboratory products. Not only was the cost high for industrial production, but the rate of defective products was also frighteningly high.

Take the engine as an example. Out of a hundred engines produced in the same batch, only two had 90 horsepower. The rest were between 80 and 90 horsepower, with some falling below 70 horsepower.

This thing was similar to the knockoffs of later generations. Whether it was good or bad depended entirely on luck. In fact, it was even worse than the knockoffs. At the very least, their rate of defective products could not reach 98%.

The rate of defective products in small-scale production was already so high. Not to mention large-scale industrial production, the data was even more appalling.

Just by looking at the ordinary cars on the market, one would know that any car that could reach a speed of 40 kilometers per hour was a high-quality product.

The speed of most cars could only reach in theory. In the first two years, they could reach 40 kilometers per hour, but in the later years, they could only reach 20 to 30 kilometers per hour.

If they were really in a hurry, they might not be able to run as fast as a horse. The only good thing about it was that it could last longer.

If it was just a little slower, it was not a big deal. After all, it was faster than a horse carriage and more convenient than a train for short distances.

However, the failure rate of the car was astonishingly high. When it was first sold in his previous life, on average, it needed to be repaired every 200 kilometers or 100 kilometers in one go.

Let's put it this way. In the 19th century, those who could drive a car not only had money in their pockets, but they also had to learn how to repair cars. Otherwise, they could only hire a driver.

In order to better sell the cars, the Austrian Automobile Group now set up a repair and rescue point every 20 kilometers, relieving everyone of their worries. This laid the foundation for the flourishing development of the Austrian automobile industry.

Without a doubt, these messy problems would never happen to the Royal Number One.

If it broke down after 80 to 100 kilometers, the people below would not dare to send it to the emperor. If an accident happened, it would be fatal.

You got what you paid for. The excellent performance of the Royal One was also built with money. The total cost was close to a million SHIELD, which was almost the cost of building the pre-dreadnought battleship.

This kind of epoch-making product was still very valuable. That's right, it was a collection. Franz was a homebody and rarely went out.

There was a special train for him to go out. The Austrian railway covered every city, which was convenient enough. If he wanted to go hunting, he could also ride a horse. There was no need for a car.

If a tycoon was willing to pay, Franz really did not mind selling this expensive car. However, this was impossible.

The production cost alone was as high as 600,000 SHIELD. Most importantly, it used a lot of new technology. This was the highest level of Austrian industry. If it did not sell for 70 to 80 million SHIELD, it would be a waste of everyone's hard work.

After all, they were not only selling the product, which was at most worth a few hundred thousand SHIELD. The real value was the new technology used in the car.

If they took this car apart and used it as a research template, they could reverse engineer the technology. It would be much faster than doing their own research.

There was no doubt that this was impossible. Not to mention how much technology was in it, which was highly confidential and could not be sold to the public. Just looking at the price, it was obvious that there was no buyer.

Although the technology was good, not everyone could buy it. Even the powerful Anglo-French financial groups did not have a technology system that was so perfect that they could digest all the technology in it.

Limited by the research and development ability or the different industrial systems, many technology could not be reverse-engineered with a single template.

Of course, if there were enough templates, they could experiment many times. Basically, everything could be reverse-engineered.

Deriving the technology did not mean that they had the ability to produce it. This also tested the industrial standards of a country. Products that were ahead of the times were definitely not that easy to imitate.

If these technologies could not be applied to industrial production to create wealth, then buying this car was equivalent to buying a super luxury item.

It was really extravagant. 70 to 80 million SHIELD was equivalent to more than 200 tons of gold.

Such a tycoon could only exist after the collapse of the gold standard. It was impossible to appear in the gold standard era.

After that, there was no after that. The super luxury car that pushed the Austrian automobile industry forward, the Royal One, could only be kept by the emperor as a collection.

Even if they wanted to sell it, they would have to wait ten to twenty years. These technologies were more or less widely used, and there was no need to keep it a secret.

However, when that time came, the value of the Royal One would plummet. Perhaps it would only need tens of thousands of SHIELD, or even a few thousand SHIELD, to be produced.

When the Royal One was only left with the value of a collection, then it would only be valuable in the hands of the emperor. If it fell into the hands of an ordinary person, its value would plummet.

This was similar to antiques. Even if it was an ordinary bottle, as long as it was used by the emperor and had the word "palace" attached to it, its value would instantly increase.

If there was no artistic value, the experts could also find artistic value. If that was not possible, they could also add historical value.

At a speed of 80 kilometers per hour, Franz wandered around the palace before decisively getting out of the car.

It could not be helped. It had been too long since he had driven such a fast car. For the first time, Franz found himself showing signs of motion sickness.

In theory, the driver would not get motion sickness. Unfortunately, no one dared to let the emperor sit in the driver's seat and be the driver himself.