Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 1062: strategic choice

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The British Army, Navy and Air Force are competing for military spending, and Shinra is no exception. The outside world does not know the parameters of the Roma, but the senior officials of the Vienna government know it!

Displacement: 20100 tons

Length: 169.6m

Width: 26.3 meters

Draft: 8.7m

Speed: 20.5 knots

Endurance: 6500 nautical miles at 10 knots

Main engine: transmission type steam turbine with 2 sets of 4 shafts

Main boiler: 18 mixed-fired water boilers

Power: 23,000 horsepower

Armament: 6 305mm 45x caliber double-mounted guns (one at the front and one at the rear, two on each side, in a hexagonal shape), 16 120mm 45x caliber single-mounted guns, 2 450mm underwater torpedo tubes

Armor: 255mm broadside, 76mm deck, 230mm turret, 280mm front turret, 280mm conning tower

Crew: 863 people

Compared with the previous traditional battleships, the firepower of the "Roma" is really much stronger. In the era of cannons and giant ships, strong firepower equals strong combat effectiveness.

After finally gaining an advantage on the track, the Admiralty was naturally reluctant to let the British overtake it. To extend this advantage, the Admiralty proposed an ambitious refit program.

Namely: within five years, build 25 super battleships similar to "Roma" to seize maritime supremacy from the Royal Navy.

In theory, there is nothing wrong with it, 25 dreadnoughts can indeed sweep the current Royal Navy. Even a fold in half can do it.

The precondition is "now". The British are not fools. It is impossible to see themselves being surpassed, and they will definitely take corresponding measures.

The birth of the dreadnought is not an epoch-making development in technology, but a breakthrough in concept.

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

The Royal Navy's annual military spending is not in vain. In the field of warship construction technology, the British are still at the forefront of the times.

As long as the London government is willing to spend money, it can come up with its own "super battleship" in at most two years. The Admiralty's plan is nothing more than a speed comparison with the British.

Anyway, Shinra has a test ship. What we need to do now is to make a little technical improvement on the basis of the "Rome", and then we can replicate the industrial production.

In terms of time, the Holy Roman Empire is at least a year and a half ahead of its competitors, and this advantage can continue to be enlarged in the subsequent competition.

Although the British shipbuilding technology is advanced, warships involve not only shipbuilding, but also industrial cooperation.

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

When the industrial chain starts, not to mention how much more advanced technology is than the British, at least it will definitely have an advantage in production capacity.

I dare not say that the British can build one, and Shinra can build two. However, the shipbuilding industries of the two countries have started together, and at the same time, Shinra will definitely be able to build more warships than the British.

Now that the naval technological revolution has broken out, everyone has been pulled to the same starting line, and Shinra is even slightly ahead. Naturally, everyone is reluctant to let such a good opportunity pass.

There is no doubt that shipbuilding is inseparable from money. As a test ship, the "Roma" took a lot of detours during the construction process, and the final cost was 4.976 million Aegis.

If a large number of ships are built, the cost will definitely come down; but the technology of warships has always been more and more advanced, and each time the ship is built, the previous technology will be optimized, which also requires costs.

This means that even if it is a large-scale shipbuilding, the average cost of each "super battleship" will not be less than 4 million Aegis.

25 super battleships, at least 100 million Aegis. For shipbuilding alone, the Navy will increase its budget by 100 million Aegis, so what about the Army and Air Force

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

This ratio is no longer low. Even though the Holy Roman Empire has two levels of finance, the central government and the state government, there are also a large number of central government jurisdictions.

For the internal construction of the state, the central government does not need to undertake too many obligations, but the infrastructure, people's livelihood projects, and administrative costs in the direct jurisdiction are the same and cannot be less.

Of course, the proportion is not low is mainly Franz's view. Compared with other countries in the world, the proportion of Shinra's military expenditure is really not high, lower than 90% of the countries in the world.

Limited by productivity, military spending in many countries has reached more than half of fiscal revenue. Only countries that have completed industrialization can suppress this ratio.

Whether or not the proportion of military expenditure is high, will not change the fact that the Holy Roman Empire's military expenditure ranks first in the world. The annual military expenditure of Shinra exceeds the gross national product of most countries in the world.

According to the current pace of development, I am afraid that within ten years, Franz will have the feeling of a later American emperor, and his family's military expenditure exceeds the sum of the following two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight....

In fact, you can feel that way now. If nothing else, from next year, the military expenditure of the Vienna government will exceed the sum of the next two, three and four.

No matter how much money there is, it can't stand the disaster of the army's gold-eating beast. According to past practice, the ratio of military expenditure of the army, navy and air force is usually 4.6:3.7:1.7.

Apparently, this is in the past tense. The Navy and Air Force, dissatisfied with their military spending ratios, are now joining forces to bombard the Army.

Admiral Castagni: "The French have been abolished, and even if they are loosened now, they will not be a threat to us for a hundred years.

The Russians are our allies, and we hold their economic lifeline in our hands, so there is no threat from the Eastern Front.

Since the victory of the anti-French war, we have no enemies on land. Throughout the world we have only one enemy - Britain.

To deal with the British, the necessary navy and air force, the army continues to seize a large number of resources, which is a complete waste of taxpayer money. "

Air Force Minister Conrad: "Your Excellency is right, the army has too many resources, which has seriously hindered the empire's..."

War Minister Feslav interrupted: "You two, please pay attention to your words. Don't forget that the Holy Roman Empire is a land-based country, and our foundation is on land.

It is never the vast ocean that determines the rise and fall of empires, but our own land that spans the three continents of Asia, Europe and Africa.

How can the army not be strong enough to guard our vast territory

On the contrary, your navy and air force are enough. As long as we can hold the Mediterranean Sea, let us do the rest!

The War Department has a well-planned plan, and if the government decides to overthrow the British hegemony, we can go through Persia and into India at any time. "

As a land power country, there is nothing wrong with focusing on the development of the army. The only problem is that the Holy Roman Empire has lost its terrestrial threat.

France is really spoiled. If history can be repeated, it is estimated that the French will not surrender even if they are killed.

The hard days of the European Continental War were nothing compared to the post-war catastrophe. At most, I ate poorly at the time, but now I can't get enough to eat at all, or in other words, I don't have to eat at all.

In the two years of fighting on the battlefield, people died, far less than those killed by the Allied forces after the war. To be precise, after production was destroyed, they were forced to be displaced, and finally died of illness or starvation on the road.

Other countries are also tossing, for example: the garrison of Belgium, Sardinia, Tuscany and other countries is not inferior to the Russian army.

Driven by the power of hatred, these anti-French vanguards have often done even better than the Russian army.

It's just that the territory occupied by them is not large, and their sense of existence is too weak, and the limelight has been robbed by the Russians.

Just look at the direction of the fugitives of the French. Either run to Switzerland, or run to Spain, or run to Shinra, no one dares to run to Belgium and Italy.

There is no way, the hatred formed in the front is too deep, don't expect others to help when you run over.

Including those who ran to Shinra, they had to detour, and they did not dare to pass through Luxembourg, Rhineland and other regions.

The locals are also anti-French pioneers. The previous Vienna government had raised a batch of relief food and planned to send it to France for disaster relief, but it was stopped by the people in the Rhineland area.

In the end, the Vienna government changed its mind and decided to send it to the Russian army as rations, and it was unimpeded in an instant.

So many people want the French to end, and post-war France will be as miserable as it is.

Many countries in the anti-French alliance followed and endorsed it, and the international community only verbally condemned it, and then nothing happened.

Without France, the Holy Roman Empire lost its terrestrial threat. As for the Russian Empire, it was not a threat decades ago.

Not to mention the war with Shinra, even if trade is interrupted, the tsarist government may collapse.

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

If you want to open up new markets, you will not be able to find such a large buyer in the international market. In many fields, Shinra has formed a virtual monopoly.

Although Shinra is also uncomfortable, there are alternatives at the bottom. The big deal is to open up mining restrictions, and at the same time let in African food, the processing and manufacturing industry will not die.

Without the threat, the Army continues to occupy the most resources, which is very unsightly. If it weren't for the army's sturdy military exploits and strong enough power within the empire, I'm afraid it would have been unable to withstand the pressure long ago.

Even so, the army is often criticized in the annual military spending competition. Not only the navy and air force spray them, but even the government is constantly criticizing them.

If you are scolded, you will be scolded, and if you are criticized, you will be criticized. Anyway, the army will not let go of the benefits.

Franz pretended to be invisible most of the time on this subject. There is never a simple right or wrong in politics. The emperor's first task is to balance the forces of all parties.

The dominance of the Shinra Army family has lasted for many years, and it has only changed in recent years.

For details, you can refer to the proportion of military expenditures. When Franz came to the throne, the army's military expenditure accounted for more than 90% of the total military expenditure, and it has slowly dropped to 46% now.

Since the navy and air force have jumped out to make trouble, why should the emperor be a bad guy? When they have almost quarreled, and then based on the results of the quarrel, the final military spending allocation will be decided.

While a dull knife is not a good option, sometimes it is the only option. It would be truly irresponsible to cut down the army's military spending immediately.

Whether it is disarmament, compressing the establishment, or finding ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, time buffers are needed.

Therefore, the proportion of the army's military expenditure in the national defense budget has been decreasing year by year, but the specific military expenditure has never been reduced.

Don't look at the fierce competition now, in fact, the real competition is to increase the military expenditure, not the almost fixed cost before.

In order to change the passive situation, the Army will naturally not be idle. The Navy has a "Super Battleship Program", the Air Force has a "Terminator Program", and the Army can naturally have an "India Program".

No matter how difficult it is to implement, something is better than nothing. Anyway, the plans of the navy and the air force may not have a high success rate.

The strategic plans of the army, navy and air force have all come out, and now it is time for the senior leaders of the Vienna government to have a headache. Who is for who is against who is a balding question.

At first glance, no matter which one of the three major strategic plans can pull the British off the horse; if you study it carefully, you will find that these three major strategic plans are just plans. To accomplish any of these programs requires a significant investment of resources.

Seeing that it was getting late, Franz got up impatiently, waved his hand and said, "Let's come here first, come over tomorrow to continue.

I hope you can come up with a more adequate and responsible plan, instead of drawing me a pie that I can see and eat. "

In fact, Franz was already secretly grateful that he was not lazy this time. If this trouble is left to Frederick, it is estimated that this battle of strategic lines will be able to stage a full-scale military campaign.

It is clear that the Army has no intention of continuing to back down this time. It is simply unrealistic to rely on pressure from all parties to get the Army to make concessions.

In case of urgency, the Ministry of the Army will spread the news and invite people from all over the country to participate in the discussion. It will be a lot of fun.

No one can say for sure when it comes to politics. Compared with the Air Force and the Navy, the Army has a much higher degree of civilian support.

Let ordinary people do this multiple-choice question, and it is estimated that 80% of them will choose to kill all the way from Persia to India, and cut off the lifeblood of the British.

Another nineteen percent are moderates, and they will invite the Russians to join the army in India. As for less than one percent, they may support the navy or the air force.

This is determined by the record. The army has brought enough confidence to the people through its victories in the past.

Although the Air Force has also shown some performances, the power of the Air Force this year is obviously not strong enough to bring enough confidence to everyone.

Not to mention the navy, it has always played the role of soy sauce, not to mention ordinary people, even Franz does not think that the Shinra Navy can defeat the British Royal Navy.

If you can't win a head-to-head battle, can't you find a way to play around

Anyway, the gateway to the Mediterranean has been obtained, and the Shinra Navy can attack from both the east and the west, so that the British cannot take care of it.

Anyway, running the inner circle in the Mediterranean is faster than the British who run the outer circle. Unless the Royal Navy can have more than twice the tonnage of the Shinra Navy, just play blocking.

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

The Vienna government can deploy the air force in Morocco to complete the lock-door plan; the British can also operate Gibraltar into a giant aircraft carrier.

There are planes in the sky, submarines in the water, and waves of mines are deployed from time to time. It can also lock the Strait of Gibraltar.

If you can't go out from the west gate, you can only go out from the east and you will be passive. At that time, it really only has to cooperate with the army, and then pull in the Russians to join forces, and the two families will kill from Afghanistan and Persia to India respectively.