Chapter 772

International arms purchase orders were always full of loopholes. If you didn't reserve a few additional payment items, you wouldn't be a qualified arms dealer.

Relatively speaking, the Government of Vienna was a very conscientious seller. They didn't make trouble on the airship and even gave a lot of spare parts.

However, no matter how conscientious they were, it was inevitable to open ancillary business, and this time was no exception.

It turned out that the transport airship not only needed a large carrying capacity, but also needed a safety guarantee.

In the face of enemy aircraft, the survivability of the transport airship was too low, and fighter escort was necessary.

Unfortunately, the poor Russian government couldn't afford to play with a high-end new product like the air force. With only a flight formation to keep up appearances, it couldn't bear the heavy responsibility of escorting the airship.

If it weren't for the fact that the Japanese Army was also poor and had few aircraft, the Russian Army would have suffered a great loss.

Although they didn't suffer a great loss, two transport airships on the front line had been shot down, so the airship transport team was forced to suspend business.

Since ancient times, it was easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. The Russian Army was no exception.

When there was no airship transport team, they didn't feel anything. Now that they had it, they suddenly couldn't use it. Naturally, the officers on the front line couldn't sit still.

Since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Army had been suppressed by the Japanese. It wasn't until the development of smuggling trade and the participation of the airship transport team that the Russian Army's decadence was reversed.

The good days didn't last long, and now they were cut off again. The senior officers of the Russian Army naturally couldn't bear it.

Influenced by the butterfly effect, in recent decades, Russia had been in constant wars, and even the level of officers had been raised to a higher level.

Whether it was professional knowledge or combat experience, they were much richer than the original time and space.

In order to solve the problem once and for all, the headquarters of the Russian Army in the Far East decided to seize the air supremacy and made a perfect combat plan. Now they only lacked the air force.

In theory, the Russian Empire could also build fighter jets, and there were many "independent research and development" products with superior performance.

Logically speaking, they should take care of their own enterprises first. Unfortunately, these "superior products" all had various shortcomings.

Not only did the spare parts have to be imported, but even the production and assembly had to be done by large foreign factories.

It couldn't be helped. Everyone fought for the profitable business, and no one cared about the losing business.

The Tsarist government was poor and couldn't afford to build a large-scale air force. Naturally, no one invested in aircraft production, not even in assembly plants.

The so-called domestic production only produced an imaginative designer, and they weren't even sure if the design was their own.

As expected, as a quasi-industrial countries, the Russian Russian Tsarist, and was also a Russian.

It was just that other people would optimize the product's performance, reduce production costs, or modify it according to local cultural habits and aesthetics.

The Russian Russian was. First of all, performance was not the first goal. Making people's lives convenient was also not the main goal. Optimizing the product's performance was even more out of the question.

The concept of "buying is better than building" had long been deeply rooted in people's hearts. If it weren't for obtaining subsidies or preferential policies from the Tsarist government, no one would have gone into industry.

Be. be. the others,'t. the people didn't care about the United.

It wasn't that everyone didn't have a goal, but the industrial supporting system couldn't keep up, and the quality of human labor was also holding them back.

Not to mention high-tech spare parts, even screws with high precision requirements had to be imported. It wasn't that it couldn't be produced, but the success rate was too low.

This was the reason why Russia created the "Big and Black". It wasn't that everyone wanted to do this, but they couldn't produce a refined product.

In order to ensure normal usage, they had to make sacrifices in other aspects. Therefore, the performance was out of the question. The only good point was that it was durable.

But this advantage had its limitations. It was limited to ordinary industrial products and not suitable for any high precision products.

Not to mention the high-tech aircraft. Russia could only produce the first generation of wooden aircraft.

The most popular aircraft in the world had transitioned to metal alloys. Russia couldn't produce any of the core technologies.

If they wanted to produce it themselves, they would have to import all the spare parts. They couldn't guarantee the performance, but the cost would definitely go up.

It was a time of war, and it wasn't the time to be arrogant. Rather than forcibly building a domestic fighter jet with no certainty, it would be better to directly purchase a finished fighter jet.

At least the mainstream fighter equipped by the Shinra Air Force was produced in the hundreds or even thousands, and it had experienced the test of time.

Nicholas II tapped on the seat with his right hand and asked with a frown, "How many fighters do you plan to purchase? How much do you need? What about the crew? "

Time was the best teacher. After more than ten years as an emperor, Nicholas II was no longer the young boy he used to be.

Perhaps there was still a long way to go before he became an excellent emperor, but common sense couldn't be fooled anymore.

In fact, it wasn't the first time the Tsarist government discussed the purchase of fighter jets.

The importance of air supremacy was self-evident. No one would give it up if it was in their hands. It was just that it was left unsettled for various reasons.

They knew it was difficult, but they still brought it up again. The military naturally had to come up with a plan.

Minister of War Yevgeny: "According to the information from the front line, we need at least a hundred fighter jets to seize air supremacy.

Considering the current tense international situation and the possibility of war between England and Austria breaking out at any time, this purchase can't be replenished for a long time in the future. We plan to imitate the Shinra Air Force and form an Air Force division.

Including the pre-war losses, we need to purchase a total of 400 fighter jets. The approximate purchase budget is between 30 million to 50 million AOD.

The specific number can only be determined after formal negotiations. In the field of aviation, Shinra has an absolute advantage. Even the United Kingdom is a generation behind.

With Japan's industrial strength, it's not easy to produce a plane to the sky, let alone the performance.

To deal with them, we can buy second-hand fighter jets from Shinra that are about to be retired. Not only can we save costs, but we can also get the stock in the shortest time.

As for the crew, after the outbreak of the war, we commissioned Shinra to help train a group. After more than half a year of training, they can barely be used now. "

(Note: The Holy Roman Empire Air Force division has three regiments. Each regiment has three flying groups and one maintenance group. Each group is composed of three flying squadrons, and each squadron has eight fighter jets. The division has a total of 288 fighter jets, more than five thousand people in the air and ground crews.)

His tone was full of disdain. It wasn't hard to see Evgeny's contempt for Japan. Even though the Russian Empire wasn't much better, the sense of superiority in their bones couldn't be hidden.

No one was surprised by any of this. It was normal to look down on the Japanese. If they treated Japan as an equal, then there would be a real problem.

From the plan, it could be seen that the Russian Army had really improved. If it was a few decades ago, it would have been a "cure for a headache, and a cure for a sore foot." It was impossible to prepare in advance.

Right after the war broke out, they organized for people to be sent out for training. Such a proactive approach was obviously different from the Russians' previous crude approach.

But Nicholas II didn't feel happy. Instead, a sense of despair emerged in the depths of his heart.

A slight analysis of Evgeny's words showed that the Russian Army was too dependent on Shinra. If the two countries were to turn against each other one day, the combat effectiveness of the Russian Army would immediately be greatly reduced.

Knowing this was one thing, but now that the war between Japan and Russia had broken out, Nicholas II couldn't abandon advanced equipment just to get rid of his dependence on Shinra.

Purchasing fighter jets was one thing, but in the recent decades of foreign wars, every single one of them had to import arms from neighboring countries.

The problem was that they were buying second-hand goods. It was already a disgrace to the Russian Empire. He didn't expect the military to be so calm about it. This made Nicholas II unhappy.

Although he was unhappy, the Russian Empire was in a hurry. Not to mention the urgency of the war on the front line, just looking at the international situation was enough.

With the deterioration of the relationship between Shinra and Britannia, the international situation suddenly became tense. The smell of gunpowder could be smelled all over the world.

If they didn't reach an arms purchase agreement as soon as possible and complete the arms transaction, when the war between the two countries officially broke out, even if they had the money, they might not be able to buy it.

Only second-hand equipment could be delivered in the shortest time possible. If they placed an order directly with the military factory, it would take a few months to complete.

Fortunately, Nicholas II didn't know the real situation. If he found out that the Russian Army was almost all second-hand equipment, it was estimated that the volcano would really explode.

In a sense, second-hand equipment wasn't bad. Not only was the price cheap, but more importantly, the performance was reliable.

These days, there were many cases of international arms dealers cheating people. If they didn't set a few traps, they would be embarrassed to call themselves an arms dealer.

Ever since the British made a bad start, everyone's integrity plummeted. For example, before exporting the most advanced weapons, they would first reduce some of their performance.

The more advanced the weapon, the more it would be weakened. At most, it could only be considered a high quality imitation.

But no matter how high quality the imitation was, the fake could not be the real thing. If a replica were to meet the real thing on the battlefield, it would be a tragedy at any moment.

The Russian Army used second-hand equipment on a large scale, not because they liked it, but because the officers and soldiers were afraid of being tricked by the domestic officials.

It couldn't be helped. When the government colluded with the businessmen, there was no hope for domestic weapons of poor quality.

In contrast, the second-hand equipment purchased directly from Shinra was much more reliable. Not only was the performance not reduced, but even the quality had stood the test of time.

"Then let's do it!"

Nicholas II replied calmly. Everyone could see that His Majesty Tsar wasn't in a good mood now.

But even if he wasn't in the mood, he still had to deal with the government affairs. Especially at a critical moment like this, they couldn't afford to slack off.

Foreign Minister Mihailovich said, "With the intensification of the conflict between Britain and Austria, the situation in Europe has become more and more tense these days.

In order to avoid picking sides again, European countries have come out to call for peace, among which the coastal countries such as the Netherlands and Portugal have been the most active.

So far, we have received notes from 11 countries, hoping that we can take the lead in maintaining neutrality to avoid being involved in the war for hegemony.

Considering the complexity of the situation, it is difficult for us to figure it out in a short time, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not given a direct response. "

It was not easy to be the leader. European countries did not want to be involved in the war, but no one came out to take the lead. This in itself could explain a lot of problems.

The current situation was very obvious. Whoever came out first would bear the majority of the firepower.

If it was 30 years ago, Mihailovich would have accepted such a good opportunity without even thinking about it.

But it was different now. Although the strength of the Russian Empire was growing, its dependence on Shinra was increasing.

In particular, the ongoing war between Japan and Russia needed the support of the Government of Vienna. They couldn't stab the other side and ask for support at the same time, could they?

Not being consistent with the other countries was also a big problem. Without the Russian Empire taking the lead, the so-called common neutrality of all countries was a big joke.

There was no other reason. The political and military pressure exerted by Shinra and Britannia had to be borne by someone, right?

Other than the Russian Empire, who could bear this pressure?

Even Spain, due to its lack of strength, could not bear this heavy responsibility.

Not to mention the other countries, if they did not have enough strength, they would have to pay the price.

No one dared to take the lead to cause trouble, so it was imperative to stand on the side.

In this context, the position of the Russian Empire was crucial, and it acted as a weathervane for the choice of the European countries.

If the Tsarist government supported the Holy Roman Empire, then it meant that there would be no war on the European continent. Everyone would wave the flag and cheer, and there was no need to mix with the British at all.

On the contrary, if the Tsarist government supported Britannia, then this war would be decided by the sea and land lines, and the future would be really uncertain.

After a sigh, Nicholas II stood up from his chair, and after pacing a few steps in the room, he said helplessly, "Let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decide! Anyway, we have no other choice now, right?

Try to use this opportunity as much as possible to fight for greater benefits for the Empire. I'm afraid there will be no more opportunities in the future. "

The reality was so cruel. The Russian Empire, which was deeply bound by Shinra, now had no choice but to follow the path of Vienna.