Chapter 513

The British Army, Navy, and Air Force were competing for military funds, and Shinra was no exception. The outside world did not know the parameters of the Rome, but the top officials of the Government of Vienna knew!

Displacement: 20100 tons

Length: 169.6m

Width: 26.3m

Draft: 8.7m

Speed: 20.5 knots

Endurance: 10 knots/hour, 6500 nautical miles

Main engine: 2 sets of steam turbines/4 shafts

Main boilers: 18 mixed-combustion boilers

Power: 23000 horsepower

Armament: 6 305mm dual cannons (one at the front and one at the back, two on each side, hexagonal), 16 120mm single cannons, 2 450mm underwater torpedo tubes

Armor: 255 mm on the side, 76 mm on the deck, 230 mm on the gun mount, 280 mm on the front of the turret, 280 mm on the commander tower

Crew: 863

…

Compared to the previous traditional battleships, the firepower of the "Rome" was much stronger. In the era of cannons and giant ships, firepower equaled combat power.

It was not easy to gain an advantage on the race track, and the Admiralty naturally did not want to let the British overtake them. In order to expand this advantage, the Admiralty proposed an ambitious upgrade plan.

Within five years, they planned to build 25 super battleships similar to the "Rome" to seize maritime supremacy from the Royal Navy.

In theory, there was nothing wrong with the plan. 25 dreadnoughts could indeed sweep the Royal Navy. They could even do it at a discount.

The prerequisite was "now." The British were not fools. They would not allow themselves to be overtaken, and they would definitely take corresponding measures.

The birth of the dreadnoughts was not an epoch-making development in technology, but more of a breakthrough in philosophy.

In the field of emerging technology, Shinra did have an advantage, but that did not include shipbuilding technology.

The annual military expenditure of the Royal Navy was not in vain. In the field of warship construction technology, the British were still at the forefront of the times.

As long as the Government of London was willing to spend money, they could build their own "super battleship" in two years. The Admiralty's plan was nothing more than to compete with the British in speed.

No matter what, the Shinluo Empire now had an experimental ship. What they needed to do now was to make a slight technical improvement on the basis of the "Rome", and then they could replicate the industrial production.

In terms of time, the Holy Roman Empire was at least a year and a half ahead of their competitors, and this advantage could continue to be magnified in the future.

Although the British shipbuilding technology was advanced, warships involved more than just shipbuilding. It also involved industrial cooperation.

As the world's number one industrial power, the Holy Roman Empire could definitely beat the British in terms of comprehensive industrial strength.

Even if the technology was not much more advanced than the British, at least they had an absolute advantage in production capacity.

Even if the technology was not as advanced as the British, they could definitely build more warships than the Britain. However, the Admiralty would not be, and the Admiralty, would, Shinra, and would not, and World, and Force, and Britain, and Shi,

Now that the Navy's technological revolution had erupted, everyone was pulled to the same starting line, and Shinro was even slightly ahead. Naturally, no one was willing to let go of such a good opportunity.

As an experimental ship, the "Rome" took a lot of detours in the construction process, and the final cost was 4.976 million BDH.

If a large number of warships were built, the cost would definitely be reduced. However, warship technology was always getting more and more advanced. Every time a warship was built, the previous technology would be optimized, which also required a cost.

This meant that even if a large number of warships were built, the average cost of each "Super Battleship" would still not be less than 4 million BDH.

25 Super Battleships would cost at least 100 million BDH. Building ships alone would increase the budget by 100 million BDH. What about the Army and Air Force?

Although the Holy Roman Empire's military budget was increasing every year, this increase was basically linked to the economy, and military spending was basically limited to about 30% of the fiscal revenue.

This ratio was not low. Even if the Holy Roman Empire had two levels of finance: the central government and the state government, there were still a large number of areas directly under the central government.

The central government did not need to bear too many obligations for the internal construction of the state, but the infrastructure, livelihood projects, and administrative costs of the areas directly under the central government could not be neglected.

Of course, it was mainly Franz's opinion that the ratio was not low. Compared to other countries in the world, Shinra's military spending ratio was not high. It was lower than 90% of the countries in the world.

Due to the limitation of productivity, many countries' military spending accounted for more than half of their fiscal revenue. Only countries that had completed industrialization could suppress this ratio.

Regardless of whether the ratio of military spending was high or not, it could not change the fact that the Holy Roman Empire's military spending was the highest in the world. Shinra's annual military spending was more than the GNP of most countries in the world.

Based on the current pace of development, in less than ten years, Franz would probably feel like the United States in the future. His own military spending would be more than the sum of the next two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ….

In fact, he could already feel this way now. If there were no accidents, from next year onwards, the Government of Vienna's military spending would be more than the sum of the next two, three, four, and four.

No matter how much money they had, they could not afford the financial disaster of the military. According to past practice, the ratio of military spending between the Army, Navy, and Air Force was 4.6: 3.7: 1.7.

Obviously, this was already the past. The Navy and Air Force were not satisfied with their military spending ratio, and now they were working together to attack the Army.

…

Minister of the Navy Castagni: "The French have already been crippled. Even if we untie them now, they won't be a threat to us for the next hundred years.

Russia is our ally, and at the same time, their economic lifeline is in our hands. There is no threat from the eastern front at all.

Since the victory of the war against France, we have no enemies on land. Throughout the world, we only have one enemy — Britannia.

To deal with the British, we need the Navy and Air Force. The Army continues to occupy a lot of resources, which is a complete waste of taxpayers' money. "

Minister of Air Force Conrad: "Your Excellency is right. The Army occupies too many resources, and it has seriously hindered the Empire's …"

Minister of War Fislav interrupted: "Both of you, please watch your words. Don't forget that the Holy Roman Empire is a land power country. Our foundation is on land.

What determines the rise and fall of the Empire has never been the vast ocean, but our mainland, which spans across Asia, Europe, and Africa.

If we want to defend our vast territory, how can we not have a strong army?

On the contrary, your Navy and Air Force are enough. As long as you can defend the Mediterranean Sea, leave the rest to us!

The Ministry of War has made a perfect plan. If the government decides to overthrow the hegemony of the British, we can cross Persia and kill our way into India at any time. "

As a land power country, there was nothing wrong with focusing on the development of the Army. The only problem was that the Holy Roman Empire had lost its threat on land.

France had really been played to the point of no return. If history could be repeated, the French would probably not surrender even if they were beaten to death.

Compared to the disaster after the war, the bitter days during the European War were nothing. At most, they ate poorly at that time, but now, they didn't have enough to eat at all, or rather, they didn't have enough to eat at all.

The number of people who died on the battlefield for two years was far less than the number of people who died from the scourge of the Allies after the war. To be precise, after their production was destroyed, they were forced to become homeless, and finally died of illness or starvation on the road.

Other countries were also tossing and turning. For example, the garrisons of Belgium, Sardinia, Tuscany, and other countries were no worse than the Russian Army when it came to stirring up trouble.

Driven by the power of hatred, these anti-French vanguards were often more ruthless than the Russian Army.

However, the territory they occupied was not big, and their own sense of existence was too weak. The limelight was stolen by the Russians.

Just look at the direction the French fled to. They either ran to Switzerland, Spain, or Shinra. No one dared to run to Belgium and the Regions of Italy.

There was no other way. The hatred was too deep. Even if they ran to France, they wouldn't be able to count on help.

Including those who ran to Shinra, they had to take a detour. They didn't dare to pass through Luxembourg, the Rhineland, and other regions.

The local people were also the anti-French vanguards. Previously, the Government of Vienna had collected a batch of relief food to be sent to France for disaster relief. In the end, it was intercepted by the people in the Rhineland.

In the end, the Government of Vienna changed its mind and decided to send it to the Russian Army as military rations. In an instant, there was no obstruction.

So many people wanted the French to be finished. After the war, France was as miserable as it could be.

With the endorsement of the anti-French alliance, the international community only criticized a few words, and then nothing else.

Without France, the Holy Roman Empire lost its land threat. As for the Russian Empire, it was no longer a threat decades ago.

Not to mention starting a war with Shinra, even if the Tsarist government stopped trading, it might collapse.

Without Shinra, the mining and agriculture industries of the Russian Empire would also collapse.

They couldn't even open up a new market. It was impossible to find such a big buyer in the international market. In many fields, Shinra had formed a virtual monopoly.

Although Shinra didn't have it easy either, there were still substitutes. At worst, they could open up the mining restrictions and let in African food. The processing industry wouldn't die.

Without the threat, the Army continued to occupy the most resources, and it would be an eyesore. If it wasn't for the Army's outstanding military achievements and strong enough in the empire, it would have already collapsed.

Even so, the Army was often criticized in the annual war for military expenses. Not only did the Navy and Air Force criticize them, but even the government criticized them.

Being criticized and criticized was one thing, but the Army would not let go of the benefits that were already in their hands.

On this issue, most of the time, Franz pretended not to see it. There was never a simple right or wrong in politics. The Emperor's first task was to balance the power of all parties.

The Shinra Army's dominance had lasted for many years, and it was only in recent years that it changed.

Specifically, you can refer to the proportion of the military budget. When Franz first inherited the throne, the Army's military budget accounted for more than 90% of the total military budget, and it slowly decreased to the current 46%.

Since the Navy and Air Force jumped out to cause trouble, why should he be the bad guy? When they were almost done arguing, the final allocation of the military budget would be decided based on the results of the arguments.

Although cutting the meat with a blunt knife wasn't a good choice, sometimes it was the only choice. It would be truly irresponsible if they were to cut off the military expenditure of the Army in one fell swoop.

Whether it was reducing the size of the army, or finding ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, they all needed time to buffer.

Therefore, the proportion of the Army's military budget in the national defense budget decreased year by year, but the specific amount of military budget never decreased. Instead, it increased year by year, but the increase was slower than the Navy and Air Force.

Although the competition was fierce, in fact, the real fight was still for the new military budget, not the nearly fixed budget.

In order to change the passive situation, the Army naturally wouldn't be idle. The Navy had the "Super Battleship Plan," the Air Force had the "Terminator Plan," and the Army could naturally have the "India Plan."

No matter how difficult it was to implement, it was better than nothing. Anyway, the success rate of the Navy and Air Force's plan wasn't high.

The strategic plans of the Army, Navy, and Air Force were all out, and now it was the Government of Vienna's time to have a headache. Who to support and who to oppose? This was a question that could make people bald.

At first glance, any one of the three strategic plans could pull the British down. But after careful study, one would realize that these three strategic plans were only plans. To complete any one of the plans, a lot of resources would be needed.

…

Seeing that it was getting late, Franz got up impatiently and waved his hand. "Let's stop here for today, we'll continue tomorrow.

I hope you can come up with a more adequate and responsible plan, instead of drawing a pie that I can see but can't eat. "

In fact, Franz was already secretly glad that he didn't slack off this time. If he were to throw this trouble to Frederick, the battle of strategic routes this time would probably turn into a battle of martial arts.

Obviously, the Army didn't intend to continue to back down this time. It was unrealistic to rely on pressure from all sides to make the Army make concessions.

If the Army was forced into a corner, the Army would leak the news and invite the people of the country to participate in the discussion.

No one could say for sure when it came to politics. Compared to the Air Force and Navy, the Army had much higher support among the people.

If ordinary people were to make a choice, it was estimated that 80% of them would choose to kill their way from Persia to India and cut off the British's lifeline.

In addition, 19% of the people were moderate, and they would invite the Russians to send troops to India. As for the less than 1% of the people, they might support the Navy or the Air Force.

This was determined by the results. The Army had brought enough confidence to the people through their victories in the past.

Although the Air Force had also performed well, the power of the Air Force was obviously not strong enough to bring enough confidence to the people.

Needless to say, the Navy had always been a supporting role. Not to mention the ordinary people, even Franz didn't think that the Shinra Navy could defeat the British Royal Navy.

If they couldn't win a direct battle, couldn't they find a way to play a roundabout way?

Anyway, the gateway to the Mediterranean Sea had been obtained. The Shinra Navy could attack from both the east and the west, so the British couldn't take care of both ends.

Anyway, running in the inner circle of the Mediterranean Sea was faster than the British running in the outer circle. Unless the Royal Navy could have more than twice the tonnage of the Shinra Navy, they could directly play a blockade.

To do this, it seemed that it was still not enough. At this time, the strategic importance of the Strait of Gibraltar was once again reflected.

The Government of Vienna could deploy the Air Force in Morocco and complete the blockade plan; the British could also operate Gibraltar into a giant aircraft carrier.

There were planes in the sky, submarines in the water, and from time to time a wave of mines. They could also lock the Strait of Gibraltar.

If they couldn't get out from the west gate, they could only go out from the east, which was passive. At that time, they could only cooperate with the Army and join forces with the Russians. The two sides would separately attack from Afghanistan and Persia to India.