Chapter 340 Yang Conspiracy
On October 11, 1862, Frederick, the first ironclad ship in the Kingdom of Prussia, went on trial, and William I personally presided over the ceremony to show his determination to develop the navy.
They were really determined to see the Austrian nobles next door making a fortune in the overseas colonial movement, and the Junkers nobles couldn't help it.
Especially many young people have long been dissatisfied with the conservative government. You must know that Austria has less than ten years to open overseas colonies, and it has a territory five or six times the size of its native land.
Many people are optimistic that only by joining the colonial movement, they will soon be able to make a fortune and be knighted to the pinnacle of life.
"The future of the world lies in the ocean." Whoever uttered the phrase first is no longer verifiable. Anyway, it has now been widely recognized by European society.
In the early days of opening up overseas colonies, Franz also helped to promote this theory, and now it has been widely circulated in Germany.
Ironclad ships are recognized as a technological revolution in the navy, and only a few short years after they came out, naval powers such as Britain, France, the United States, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands have built their own ironclad ships.
Now that the Kingdom of Prussia finally has its own ironclad, many people are celebrating. Only the upper echelons of the government are aware of the gap between their ironclads and the various naval powers.
After all, it is a landlubber. For a long time, the Prussian navy has been a dispensable existence, and more often acts as the role of the coast guard, even the next-door Denmark is not comparable.
The fanfare to promote the ironclad is still to inspire people. After all, the development of the Kingdom of Prussia has not been smooth in recent years, and the people need good news.
William I asked with concern: "How is the naval training going, when can overseas colonies be established?"
Ron, who was the Minister of the Army and the Minister of the Navy, changed his face and replied with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, our navy is too weak.
Before the expansion of the army, the Navy had only more than 1,300 officers and soldiers, including the civilian staff from the top and bottom of the Admiralty.
It will take at least two to three years to form combat effectiveness. Of course, if the enemy is only indigenous, these are not a problem. "
The Minister of War is still the Minister of the Navy, which is also the result of compromise by all parties. Although the Junkers coveted the benefits of opening up overseas colonies, they were still reluctant to give up dominance over the military.
There is nothing wrong with the army leading the navy. Anyway, the officers and soldiers of the navy are directly transferred from the army's active duty troops. Even the Marine Corps is saved, they are definitely the strongest navy in the land war, no one.
Ron, who was originally leading the reform of the army, tragically found that he was going to lead the construction of the Prussian navy again. In other countries, the layman leads the layman at most, and here he directly leads the layman.
Anyway, the Prussian Navy was the coast guard of the Kingdom of Prussia before, and their usual business was to crack down on smuggling activities.
Now the thousands of troops who have come in are even more amateur. From top to bottom, they are all amateur players. Naturally, Ron is under a lot of pressure.
The navy is not the army, you can go to the battlefield after a few months of training. Even ordinary soldiers take years to train.
Obviously, this was only discovered by Ron after he had an in-depth understanding. The upper echelons of the Prussian government or the army thought, including William I, did not distinguish the difference between the army and the navy, otherwise they would not have asked this question.
William I asked in surprise: "It took so long, how did the Austrians expand their navy, or did their officers and soldiers simply fail to pass the training?"
It is true that the Austrian navy has expanded a bit in recent years. From 1850 to the present, the tonnage of the Austrian navy has increased several times, and it has become the third naval power in the world.
Ron explained: "Your Majesty, the Austrian Navy has been operating in the Mediterranean before, and its popularity is somewhat low, but in fact their naval heritage is very solid, and the Venetian region is a traditional naval power.
They have a complete naval technology inheritance and personnel training system. In the Metternich era, the development of the navy was not taken seriously, so that the Austrian navy was downplayed in everyone's impression. Now that the Vienna government has paid attention to it, it will naturally catch up soon. "
In fact, the rapid development of the Austrian Navy was also luck. In the era of sailing warships, naval technology has reached a bottleneck, and even the technology of the British is not much advanced to other countries.
After the advent of the ironclad era, the sail warships were directly eliminated. The previous experience and technology have fallen behind, and they have to start reshuffling.
In a way, now is the easiest time for countries to catch up with the British. After all, the ironclad technology has only just developed, and the gap has not reached the point of despair.
Hearing this explanation, William I sighed. Originally, he thought the Centennial Navy was blown out by the British, but he did not expect it to be true.
If there is no background, building a strong navy from scratch, even if it doesn't take a hundred years, it still takes decades.
"Not long ago, the Austrians proposed to us to jointly develop the Southeast Asia region. This is a rare opportunity.
If the cooperation goes well, we can directly use the overseas colonial strongholds of the Austrians to obtain supplies and obtain the first colony in the Southeast Asia region. "
Logistics supply, which is also an obstacle set up by the colonial empire to the latecomers. Everyone just welcomes merchant ships from all over the world to supply supplies. Warships must communicate in advance if they want to get supplies.
If it's just a visit abroad, then everyone is willing to do this business. If you want to open up overseas colonies, this requires a deeper level of communication.
In short, if there is not enough price, don't think about getting everyone's help.
This is quite discordant for the latecomers, and it is impossible to open up overseas colonies and transport everything from the country.
Purchasing nearby is the best way to keep costs down.
In order to obtain logistical supplies, Austria signed an agreement with the three countries of Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, promising not to seek their colonies in any way, and only then did everyone understand.
Franz has fulfilled these agreements. During overseas colonization activities, Austria has never seized any country's colonies, but took all the land without owner.
Now the Kingdom of Prussia is also facing the same problem. If the logistics supply problem cannot be solved, the cost of colonization can directly drive anyone to despair.
Sign a similar agreement? Stop dreaming, the political influence of the Kingdom of Prussia is getting worse and worse, why should everyone give face?
In this world that speaks with fists, with the strength of the Prussian navy, countries simply don't care. Even the Portuguese could destroy the Prussian naval regiment two or three times.
In particular, the direct change of the army to the navy has become a laughing stock in Europe. No one thinks that the Kingdom of Prussia is developing a navy at all, and many newspapers directly satirize the Prussian navy as an army fleet.
Ron asked with concern: "Your Majesty, what do we need to pay?"
No pie will fall from the sky. If it does fall, it can kill people. Ron didn't think that Austria would help Prussia for free, and this big bargain was definitely not easy to pick up.
William I sneered and said: "They still regard themselves as the boss of the German region, and they are going to take our little brother to be a thug.
The powers of various countries in the Nanyang region have gathered. In recent years, the Austrians have spread too much, and the strength that can be invested in the Nanyang region is limited.
In order to ensure their interests in the Southeast Asian region, the Vienna government invited us and the German Federal Empire to join us this time.
Of course, they also mean to win over our domestic aristocrats. Franz, that little brat, talks about the unified Germany every day, for fear that others will not know about it. "
This is a conspiracy, even if he knew that the bait might be poisonous, William I would swallow it.
Can't we not open up overseas colonies just because there may be hidden dangers?
Austria has won people's hearts in Prussia, not once or twice. Over the years, the number of Prussian immigrants who entered the Austrian colonies exceeded 150,000.
Many overseas colonial teams in the Kingdom of Prussia are now under the banner of the Austrians. If these people do not fall to Austria, the Vienna government will shelter them unless they are crazy.
William I had a sense of crisis. He was very worried about continuing like this, and he would be sold by his subordinates at some point. For details, please refer to the Kingdom of Bavaria.
After joining Austria. The development of the Kingdom of Bavaria is good. This traditional textile center in the German region is reborn with a second spring.
In order to solve the supply of industrial raw materials, the Vienna government has opened up cotton plantations in West Africa.
In contrast, Baden, which remained in the German Federal Empire, was a tragedy. The center of the cotton spinning industry in the German region is now subject to the lack of raw material supply and gradually declines.
With the strength of example, the people under William I's opponents have no confidence. Even Junkers nobles, he couldn't believe it.
After all, if you change the boss, aristocrat or aristocrat, capitalist or capitalist, everyone's core interests will not be damaged, and there may even be more.
In order to avoid the worst from happening, William I had to find a way to open up a new way out, or sooner or later the Kingdom of Prussia would be annexed by Austria.
William I was reluctant to play politics with the Habsburgs, which was not his forte.