Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 150: The rule-abiding tsar

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Any reform comes at a price, Franz soon learned. As victims of this military reform, Franz's three younger brothers came to protest.

There is no doubt that the three little brats were brutally suppressed by him, and they were left speechless and left in despair.

In fact, Franz also wanted to establish the Junior Aristocratic Military Academy, but because of poverty, he had to temporarily abandon this plan.

There is no way, this is determined by Austria's national conditions. At present, the cost of military education for the children of nobles is borne by the nobles themselves. Once the government establishes the Junior Noble Military Academy, the cost will be borne by the government.

The training of these noble children should not be sloppy. It must be elitist teaching. The education cost of tens of thousands of noble children will cost tens of millions of dongs per year at least, even if it breaks 100 million, it is not surprising.

In addition to military lessons, cultural lessons, there must be etiquette lessons, art lessons, equestrian lessons, hunting, fencing, religion, social dances…

In short, what a precious word. This kind of elite education cannot be supported by ordinary noble families, so what should we do

The answer is very simple: parents educate the next generation by themselves, or let their children learn from relatives and friends.

Of course, this is a noble with a deep background. Emerging aristocrats do not have the ability to provide such high-grade education to their children, and if they cannot cultivate aristocratic temperament, they are regarded as nouveau riche.

Anyway, in addition to cultural classes, ordinary schools in Austria also have simple military training, which is a tradition in Germany.

As the so-called upstream and downstream effects, imitating the behavior of the ruling class is a normal phenomenon in society. The conditions of compulsory education schools in Austria are so poor, and there is no shortage of basic military training.

The abolition of the Baby Bottle Army is just a small episode in the military reform, and the actual impact is not large. This kind of honorary officer does not need Franz's pay.

The real major operation is still in the logistics management system. With the continuous upgrading of military weapons, the requirements for logistics supplies are also increasing. The traditional logistics support system can no longer meet the needs of modern warfare.

To put it simply, a special logistics support system has been established, and the army's logistics team has grown.

It is worth mentioning that the medical security system has also appeared in the Austrian army, and it is also an important member of the logistics system. Each company has established a medical and health team, and there is a special field hospital in the division-level army.

It is a pity that the medical system is still an empty shell. These establishments only exist in theory. The doctors in the field hospital are still single digits and can only guarantee the life safety of the officers.

According to the current situation, Franz estimates that it will take at least three to five years for these agencies to be fully staffed, and it will take time to cultivate medical talents, even if they only learn simple battlefield first aid.

Considering the level of medical technology in this era, it can only be said that something is better than nothing. Franz did not expect them to be able to rescue the seriously wounded, as long as the minor wounded were saved.

In this era, the mortality rate on the battlefield remained high. The most important reason was traumatic infection. There were no high-grade anti-inflammatory drugs, and there was still no shortage of alcohol in Austria.

Not long ago, Franz also sent someone to make the magic drug penicillin, and he was going to make money by selling the drug.

It is a pity that even if penicillin can be produced by the local method, this penicillin is not equal to penicillin that can be used to save lives and heal the wounded. There are also professional things involved.

The scientists involved in the production were shocked, but the experiment should be continued. If you can't grasp the degree in the middle, the magic medicine that saves the wounded will also become a deadly poison.

Historically, penicillin was invented in 1928, and clinical trials were not completed until the end of 1940. Of course, research was interrupted in the middle.

When will it be possible to stabilize the medicinal properties and make the most suitable penicillin for human use

Laboratory products are so difficult to produce. From the transformation of laboratory products to industrial production, the middle way is naturally indispensable.

Historically, because of the outbreak of World War II, from the laboratory determination of drug efficacy in 1940 to the start of industrial production in 1942, Americans set a new record in the history of drug research and development.

Franz does not think that the industrial technology of Austria can be compared with the Americans during World War II. Not to mention three years, if this goal can be achieved within ten years, it will be a celebration of the whole world.

Franz can only sigh with emotion that the anti-Japanese dramas are not superficial.

The Americans achieved mass production of penicillin in 1943 before it was available to the Allies. I really don't know which counterfeit drug dealer the penicillin robbed by the Japanese army came from. It was earlier than the laboratory product.

After this failure, Franz cut off the idea of selling drugs to make money.

In an era when biotechnology, medical technology, and industrial technology all fail to meet the conditions, he has no system to stand by, so what can he do

St. Petersburg

Since the signing of the Russia-Austria secret treaty, the Russians have started to prepare for war.

The tsarist government is not a fool. They know that the European continent has just experienced a great revolution. Governments of various countries are busy consolidating their regimes and carrying out social reforms. This time is the best time for them to expand.

"My Chancellor of the Exchequer, when will I be able to collect the war funds." Nicholas I asked dissatisfiedly

Preparing for war naturally costs money. If you don't have money, what kind of war can you fight? From last year to the present, it has been almost a year, and the Ministry of Finance still has not collected the war funds, so Nicholas I will naturally be dissatisfied.

Later generations believed that the backward agricultural country Russia was a poor country among the great powers. The Russian Empire in this era was not poor at all, with a fiscal revenue of 200 million silver rubles.

(1 gold ruble = 10.3 silver rubles, one silver ruble is about half two silvers)

As a feudal dynasty, the industrial development of the Russian Empire is naturally not good, and the agricultural technology is also not good, but they can't stand their own mines

In the mid-19th century, the tsarist government discovered a large number of gold and silver mines in the newly expanded territories. In 1840 alone, the tsarist government minted 439.9 million silver coins and 134 million gold coins.

The production of so many gold and silver coins not only shows that the tsarist government is rich and powerful, but also has a helpless reason. Their banknotes are not strong enough.

During the period of Alexander I, the Russians also followed the trend and issued paper money, but businessmen from various European countries believed that the tsarist government had no credibility and refused to use paper rubles, and then the value of paper rubles naturally went wild all the way.

In 1817, Alexander I changed the monetary policy and banned the issuance of banknotes. The government adopted a policy of shrinking banknotes and successively recycled banknotes circulating in the market.

Without paper currency trade, it is natural to rely on gold and silver coins. Facts have proved that this thing really works, as soon as the gold and silver double standard system came out, it was immediately praised by businessmen from various European countries.

Judging from these data, the tsarist government in this era should be very wealthy. The 100 million taels before the devaluation of silver was not a small number, and it was much higher than Austria before the reform.

As a feudal dynasty, the Russian Empire did not have any social welfare to spend. The government's fiscal revenue was mainly to support the army and administrative organs, which should be enough.

Nicholas I and Franz faced a common social problem—corruption. No matter how rich a country is, as long as this problem cannot be solved, it should not expect financial prosperity.

"Your Majesty, this cost is too huge. I'm afraid it will have to wait until the second half of next year." Chancellor of the Exchequer Aristanley replied.

Nicholas I frowned and asked, "Isn't a war tax already levied?"

"Your Majesty, the nobles have not paid this war tax yet. They asked to pay it after the war broke out, so now the war tax is lower than we expected." Aristanli explained

This is normal operation, and the taxation of the Russian imperial aristocracy has always been good. The Tsar's reputation is not very good, and the nobles are afraid of being deceived by the Tsar. Unless the war has broken out, it is difficult to receive taxes in advance.

Of course, if Nicholas I was a little tougher, he could accept it in advance, but it would affect domestic unity and stability.

However, Nicholas I would not do that. The rights and obligations of Europe are clearly divided.

During the war, the tsar had the right to levy war taxes, and the nobles were also obliged to pay war taxes, but isn't the war yet to break out

"Can't they let them pay the taxes in advance?" Nicholas I asked with a frown

"Your Majesty, we have a commercial contract. If we ask them to pay taxes in advance, the price we need to pay is too high." Aristanli explained patiently.

Yes, this is the legendary tax package system.

Now European countries have basically abolished it, but Russia is really too big, the government wants to directly levy the management cost is too high, and it is difficult to protect the tax revenue, so it has not been abolished.

Nicholas I frowned and said: "That's fine, anyway, we still have time to raise strategic materials. But the Ministry of Finance must hurry up to raise military spending. I don't want our military operations to be delayed because of lack of money."

Unlike other tsars, Nicholas I was a person with a sense of responsibility and did not like to break the rules.