Chapter 998 Mercenaries
Spain's defeat does not matter, the key is that the Philippine Islands, a strategic location, cannot fall into the hands of the ambitious Japanese, otherwise the Nanyang region will never have peace.
Although the Japanese government is very law-abiding now, even if the Vienna government is blatantly supporting Spain, they are still playing low and playing small, as if they have no temper.
But this is only based on the awe of the strong. Now that the Holy Roman Empire is strong, the military power in the Nanyang region alone can make them unable to eat and walk around, even if they want to be restless.
But times are changing. The Philippine Islands that fell into the hands of the Spaniards and the Philippine Islands that fell into the hands of the Japanese are two completely different concepts.
The former has declined, and no matter how fertile the Philippines is, it can only contribute a sum of income to Spain, and the national strength does not help much.
If it fell into the hands of Japan, it would be completely different. With the resources of the Philippines and the hard work of the Japanese, it is appropriate to create a medium-sized power, and it is also the kind that is good at combat effectiveness.
If it was just these, it would not be enough to make Franz afraid. After all, the Holy Roman Empire is too perverted now, even he himself never imagined that one day he would be able to create such a huge empire.
The problem is that Japan is not a normal country. Now that the elders are suppressing it, it has not gone crazy for the time being. The future is not certain, as you can see from their original time and space, it is completely a series of tricks to death.
No one can guarantee that one day the Japanese will go crazy and have the idea of the Austrian Nanyang region. Franz didn't want Laoshi to go to the Far East to fight the Japanese on an expedition.
It is estimated that normal people don't like wars where blood is lost, won or lost. Franz would not launch such a meaningless war of attrition unless he was sure of killing him with one blow.
From the standpoint of the Holy Roman Empire, it is best for the Philippine Islands to remain in the hands of the Spaniards. At least the Spanish government will not dream of competing with them for the hegemony of the Southeast Asia, let alone swaying the Austrian Southeast Asia region.
"Is the Spanish army so useless?"
Prime Minister Karl asked first. As a normal European, he really couldn't imagine that the European army had such a rubbish record against the Japanese natives.
Without the record created by the Italian army, the current performance of the Spanish army can be said to be the worst of all European colonial empires.
Not to mention the exchange ratio of 1:1.4, even if it is an exchange ratio of 1:10, it is the performance of inferior students. Under normal circumstances, a company chases thousands of people to fight, and a regiment can play the war of destroying the country.
Spain is also the originator of colonial wars and the creator of conquest records. Back then, Spain conquered the Aztec Empire with 600 men, and overthrew the Inca Empire with 177 men and 62 horses.
Compared with the current record of the Spanish army, even the gap between heaven and hell cannot be so large. As a normal person, Prime Minister Karl was unbelievable by such a conceptual shock.
Foreign Minister Weisenberg explained: "It is much more waste than we expected. However, this is not without signs. As early as the European War, the Spaniards exposed the problem of the low combat effectiveness of the army.
They concentrated the elite troops from all over the country and planned the battle carefully, but in the end they didn't even do the temporary cannon fodder troops formed by France.
In the entire anti-French alliance, only the Italian state's army is as powerful as them. The combat effectiveness they have shown now should be the lower limit of the army in the European world. "
They are all complaining about the Spaniards' rubbish, but no one mentions that the Japanese army is powerful in combat. Well, Franz admitted that the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army these days really has nothing to do with toughness.
It's not that the Japanese don't work hard. The problem is that military spending determines the upper limit of the army's combat effectiveness. You have the nerve to call yourself a veteran without firing hundreds of bullets; can you feed the elite without thousands of bullets?
The infantry is like this, and the artillery is even more powerful. Every qualified artilleryman is fed with shells. Generally speaking, hundreds of shells are indispensable. Even if most of them are training bombs, it is not a small expense.
Not to mention the wear and tear of the artillery, training several gunners to scrap a artillery is a routine operation.
Not to mention armored soldiers and pilots with higher technical requirements, they are all spent on money. Of course, the Japanese do not have these arms, so there is no need to consider them.
In addition to ammunition consumption, soldiers' salaries, daily life, and maintenance of weapons and equipment are also a considerable expense.
If according to the standards of the Shinra Army, the Japanese Army's military expenditure is just enough to raise an infantry division, and it is a bit difficult for both, let alone the others.
And this embarrassing situation will continue until it can achieve localization of weapons and equipment and reduce the cost of weapons and ammunition before it will improve slightly.
Referring to the original time and space, we know that for a long time, the Japanese Army only maintained a single-digit standing division, and it was often dissatisfied.
Even with such a reduced force, the military expenditure is still not enough. In desperation, the Japanese army practiced hand-to-hand tactics, and then became the king of hand-to-hand combat.
It's just that it's okay to bully garbage cannon fodder only with the combat power brought by blood courage. If you meet a real elite, you will be delivering food.
In fact, the elite troops are not necessarily all daredevils. Their real strength lies in their professionalism.
To put it simply, even if he is hundreds of meters away, the probability of him hitting you is 20 to 30%, but you can only fight back by luck.
On average, thousands of rounds in Modern Warfare
Killing an enemy with bullets, and killing an enemy with tens of thousands of bullets in future wars, are mostly due to the credit of ordinary troops. And the elite troops need much less ammunition on average to kill an enemy.
It is also based on this that the senior officials of the Vienna government do not take the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army to heart. A country that even needs to import artillery has no qualifications to make everyone afraid.
...
Seeing that the topic was going off track in Tucao, Franz interrupted: "It doesn't matter whether the Spanish army is trash or not. The key is that the British are involved. The London government is supporting the Japanese, so we can't let Spain lose the war, at least You can’t lose too badly.”
In international politics, face is sometimes very important, especially for newly born hegemons.
Although the Japanese-Western War was only remotely controlled by Britain and Austria, in the eyes of many people, the Japanese-Western War was a continuation of the struggle for hegemony between Britain and Austria.
If Spain suffers a disastrous defeat, it will send a signal to the outside world: In overseas competition, the Holy Roman Empire is not the British's opponent.
Although this is true, the Vienna government must also deny it. In a sense, admitting to being inferior to Britain in overseas competition means admitting defeat.
As a challenger, you can tolerate failure, but you cannot admit failure. As with politics, sometimes you have to delude yourself.
Besides, if you don't show your strength to the younger brothers, how can you make them feel at ease?
Franz doesn't want Spain to come back against the world, as long as he can play a record that hurts both sides, he is satisfied.
If it can't be done, then it is not unacceptable to let the Spaniard lose a little bit decently. After all, a military victory is not yet a victory, and diplomatic games can still rewrite the final outcome.
As long as the Spaniards show sufficient strength, Franz is sure to force the Japanese to withdraw from the Philippine Islands through diplomatic means.
"It's too late to help the Spaniards train the army. If you want to change the battlefield situation in a short time, you can only use mercenaries.
The problem now is that the Spaniards are too poor, and it is already very difficult to maintain the expeditionary force, and they simply don't have enough financial resources to hire an army.
What's more, the military strength of the Japanese is not too weak. There is no mercenary in the world that can complete this task. "
Prime Minister Karl suggested. The Vienna government has done similar things. When it competed with the British for South Africa, it surpassed the vest of "mercenaries". It's just that later it was discovered that it was unnecessary, and they simply shot the Boer Republic government army.
The only problem is that the Philippine Islands are different from South Africa. The South African region is eaten by itself, and people should pay for it. The Philippine Islands belong to the Spaniards. For the sake of international reputation, it is impossible for the Vienna government to swallow it.
Bringing your own dry food to help the Spaniards fight, how can there be such a good thing in the world? Even though the Spanish government had already paid the price, it was only in exchange for the support of the Vienna government, and it was not enough for the Holy Roman Empire to fight in person.
If there is no participation of the Vienna government, relying on the ability of the Spaniards, even if they are really willing to pay to hire an army to help fight the war, they will not have such a powerful mercenary.
Under normal circumstances, a mercenary would only have a hundred or eighty people, and those with more than a thousand people would be huge teams, and they would not be able to support any more.
Combat power also varies widely. Among them, those with strong combat power can overwhelm the government forces of various countries, which can be said to be the best of the best; more mercenary teams, it is okay to bully the natives, and they can only deliver food when they meet the regular army.
It's okay in small-scale battles, but if it's placed in tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of large battles, the number of mercenaries with only a thousand or eight hundred is not enough.
Franz nodded: "If you don't have any money, lend it to them and ask the Spaniards to use the colonial income as collateral. There is no such strong mercenary group in the world, so you can form it yourself.
Not long after the European war ended, there are still a large group of retired officers and soldiers on the European continent, and there are always desperadoes who like to lick blood on the tip of a knife.
If there are not enough people, go to France to recruit. After being hungry for so long, I believe there will be some people who are willing to work hard to fill the stomach of the family.
By the way, all mercenaries in Italy are not wanted. This time it was to fight in the Philippine Islands, where there was no pasta. "
There are no conditions, and conditions must be created. No one knows whether the mercenaries can defeat the Japanese army. Anyway, doing it is better than not doing it.
Rather than sit back and watch the Spaniards lose, it is better to work hard. Anyway, the Spaniards paid for it, and the Vienna government only needs to push it secretly.
It's best to be able to play a role, and it's okay not to be able to play a role. The situation has deteriorated to this point, no matter how bad it is, it won't be so bad.
Even if the plan fails, the Spanish government will cry if it wants to cry. The Vienna government is nothing more than losing face. At most, it will temporarily not compete with the British in overseas competition.