Chapter 1055: Best ally

As the economy picks up, the fiscal revenue of the Vienna government has also risen. The government will not keep money for children, and all fiscal revenue has to be spent.
Less than half of the time passed in 1897, and the various departments had already begun to compete for the budget for the coming year.
When the emperor went on vacation, the decision-making power of budget allocation fell to the crown prince. Everyone can see that this is obviously the emperor paving the way for his son.
There is nothing to object. Although the emperor is still healthy, he is also 67 years old. In this era when the average life expectancy is less than 50, it can be called "high life."
No one can guarantee that the elderly emperor will suddenly see God one day. From this point of view, it is very necessary to exercise the crown prince in advance to avoid rushing.
Unlike the struggles of Eastern imperial power, European succession laws are relatively complete, and even if there are occasional struggles, they are not cruel.
At least the internal struggle of the Habsburgs was not so fierce, otherwise Franz's uncle Ferdinand I would not succeed to the throne.
In this context, let the crown prince act as the emperor's authority in advance. Although the number of appearances is small, it is not without precedent.
The most typical example is Franz himself. Since the Great Revolution, he has acted as the emperor's power on behalf of the emperor, and the Regent Committee obediently handed over power.
Rules are rules. As long as everyone adheres to them, there will be no problems.
It's the same with Frederick, and the situation is even better.
After all, Franz is still alive and well, just ran out for a vacation. Although the time spent on this holiday was a bit long, it didn't hurt.
There was a respectable emperor pressing on it, and no matter what thoughts were on the bottom, he had to hold back.
Not to mention that Franz rarely tossed, but the bureaucrats of the Vienna government will never forget the wonderful scene of "ten thousand people dismissed from office, 100 people cremation factory".
If someone really calculates carefully, they will find that the bureaucrats who fell in the Franz era are more than the total number of hundreds of years since the establishment of the Habsburg dynasty.
Of course, different times are not comparable. The number of public officials in the Holy Roman Empire now far exceeds any period in the past.
In the face of an emperor who dared to break the rule of "the law does not account for the public" and would increase punishment, no one dared to be a demon.
These are the experiences and lessons learned by the predecessors in exchange for blood.
Since the establishment of the civil service examination system, anyone has a gang of substitute candidates. The detached status of the former bureaucracy no longer exists.
...
Putting down the official documents in his hand, Frederick asked helplessly: "Your Honorable Minister, can you tell me, what is the purpose of the Navy's shipbuilding this time?"
The word "respect" obviously aggravated the tone, and it can be seen that Frederick's "shipbuilding plan" submitted to the Admiralty is very cold.
On the surface, it was just a few battleships, dozens of cruisers and destroyers. Judging by the size of the Shinra Navy, some warships are replaced every year, and it is not too much to build so many warships at once.
The problem lies in the "warship upgrading".
There are also strict regulations for the retirement of Shinra’s warships. Either the performance does not keep up with the times, or the second-hand warship can be sold, otherwise it will have to wait for the completion of the service period.
After successive upgrades in the previous few years, now it happens to be in a window period, and no capital ship will be decommissioned in the next three years.
Without decommissioning, there will be no substitutes. With the naval establishment unchanged, the government will not allocate additional funds to build capital ships in the next two years.
Without additional funding, the Navy’s annual military expenditures are limited, which naturally supports the shipbuilding plan.
If only dozens of more warships were built, it would be nothing more than ten to twenty million Aegis. As a master who personally manipulated the listing of a billion-dollar oil company, Frederick would not have such a big reaction.
The problem is that the navy is never just a matter of warships. Once the number of warships increases, the naval establishment will also increase.
It seems that I just want to build a few more ships, but in fact I want to expand the army. That is not something that can be done with ten or twenty million, but the expense of tens of millions of Aegis will be increased every year.
The Holy Roman Empire is a land-powered country. If the navy increases its military expenditures, the army will certainly not be ambiguous, and the air force will probably join in the fun.
These are only minor problems at home, and the most troublesome is internationally. The British are so obsessed that the expansion of the Royal Navy by the Shinra Navy will definitely follow up.
Needless to say, a new round of naval arms competition has been ignited. At that time, whether it is willing or not, the Vienna government will passively follow the British to play the "dumpling contest."
Using his brain to think for a while, Frederick knew that the Navy’s shipbuilding plan was a huge pit, a huge pit that could swallow all the new fiscal revenues of the Vienna government.
Regardless of international influence, the money is spent on military expenditures. What else does this crown prince use for his political achievements?
Franz allowed Frederick to supervise the country, so he took the opportunity to brush up on his political achievements, prove his ability to govern the country to the outside world, and increase his reputation for future succession.
If all the money is used to play the "dumpling contest" with the British, it is estimated that everyone except the navy will be dissatisfied with him as the crown prince.
Frederick was not William II. He had a naval dream since he was a child. Frederick, who grew up in Vienna, was deeply influenced by mainland culture and was a typical land powerist.
Frederick has always been very disdainful of the British maritime hegemony. No matter how powerful maritime hegemony is, can it be comparable to the hegemony of Asia, Europe and Africa?
In the Holy Roman Empire, the most popular theory is that "the one who has the island of the world shall have the world." As for maritime hegemony, it is only an appendage of mainland hegemony.
After the Holy Roman Empire had finished digesting the fruits of victory, the British maritime hegemony had to be yielded or not.
So Frederick now looks at the Secretary of the Navy, "This is a bad guy, and he actually wants to harm me."
It seems that the dissatisfaction with the crown prince has already been prepared, and Castagni replied calmly: "His Royal Highness, the British are too busy lately, we must find something for them to do.
Seeing that the Central Asian Railway is about to open to traffic, we need to create an opportunity for the Russians to use the Russians to consume the British national power.
If things go well, we will be able to take over the task of maritime hegemony from the British before the end of the new Anglo-Russian war.
Before that, if we didn't build more warships, how could we perform the duty of overlord? "
I don't know since when the Vienna government liked using Russian allies as pawns.
Now to take the British maritime hegemony and replace it, the first reaction of the Admiralty is to let the Russians go first.
When you open the history book, you will find that in recent decades, the Russians have stepped up to help beat all the enemies that the Vienna government has faced.
In the First Near Eastern War (Crimean War), the British and French Ottomans were beaten, which laid the foundation for Austria's annexation of South Germany;
In the two Prussian Wars, he helped to abolish Prussia, and successfully avoided the outbreak of civil war in Shenluo for unification;
The subsequent Near East Wars were also fought by Russia and Austria together, and successfully killed the Ottoman Empire;
Although the Russians were absent from the European War, the Russians still made outstanding contributions to the issue of suppressing France, and they are now fighting;
Now when it comes to the confrontation between Vienna and London, I did not expect the Russians to come in handy again. This has not yet reached the decisive moment, there are people in the Vienna government who want to provoke the Anglo-Russian war.
Judging from the current situation, with the opening of the Central Asia Railway, the probability of the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War is increasing day by day.
Therefore, the friendship between Russia and Austria is inevitable. Where can I find such a caring ally?
Although maintaining Russian-Austrian friendship is very costly, it is not worth mentioning at all when compared to the contributions made by the Russians.
Frederick admitted that he was tempted, but he soon reacted. The Central Asia Railway was opened to traffic two years later. What is the urgency now?
Even if the Anglo-Russian war was to be provoked, it would have to wait for the railway to pass.
Before that, let the British people be idle. They will be busy in the future, so they are not in a hurry at all.
Especially the recent actions of the London government are constantly challenging the bottom line of the tsarist government. Over time, these small conflicts will evolve into hatred that cannot be eased between the two countries.
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