Chapter 920 Arms Purchase

"The Russians want to buy planes?"

Franz received the news just after waking up from his sleep. It's not surprising to think about it, the tsarist government has been buying and selling in recent years.

Maybe it's the sweetness of the purchase, or maybe it's just the bureaucrats who simply want to make a fortune, but if the weapons are equipped on a large scale by the Austrian army, the Russians will soon follow them.

Seeing that the plane was shining brightly on the battlefield, the tsarist government naturally wanted to follow up. Especially as the Anglo-Russian Afghan war continues, the Russian army urgently needs a weapon that can suppress the British airship force.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"The Tsarist government has just decided to launch a Christmas offensive, with plans to seize Afghanistan before Christmas on the Russian calendar."

Foreign Secretary Weisenberg explained with a smile. There is no doubt that behind the Russian Christmas offensive, Austria's driving force is indispensable.

The British have not participated much since the European Continental War. It was not because the London government suddenly changed its nature. It was mainly dragged down by the Afghan war and did not have so much energy.

Judging from the current situation, unless France and Austria are completely out of balance, the British will definitely give priority to the Afghanistan battlefield.

With this answer, Franz fell into deep thought. Whether or not to sell the plane to the Russians is also a tangled issue.

In theory, if the Russians got the plane, it was equivalent to getting air supremacy in the Afghan war, and the odds of winning the war were higher.

This is what Austria wants to see. The occupation of Afghanistan does not mean the end of the Anglo-Russian war, but the beginning of a full-scale war between the two countries.

Concerning India's strategic security, the British government can only fight to the end whether it wants to or not.

With the strength of the British Empire, this war still has to be fought. The more Britain and Russia fought in Central Asia, the less power would be able to interfere in Europe.

There are advantages and disadvantages. It is true that Russia and Austria are allies, but this alliance is also established because of interests. If the core interests of the two countries conflict, the alliance will collapse every minute.

The plane fell into the hands of the Russians, and it was difficult to keep it secret. As long as the French are willing to bid, it is not difficult to get samples from the tsarist government.

"If the French, or the British, got our plane, how long would it take to decipher the technology?"

Franz asked with concern.

The crux of the matter is here, Austria lights up the aircraft technology tree, just to maintain an advantage in the war.

Britain and France are both industrial powers. Once the samples are obtained, it is only a matter of time before the manufacturing technology can be reversed.

Prime Minister Carr: "According to the estimates of the engineers, if an intact aircraft falls into the hands of Britain and France, it will only take one to three months for them to deduce the aircraft manufacturing technology.

However, deducing the manufacturing technology does not mean that it can be imitated. Because of the different industrial systems, we have our own standards with Britain and France.

If Britain and France want to directly imitate, they must adjust the standard of the industrial mother machine. This requires a lot of time, and industrialized mass production cannot be achieved without two or three years of hard work.

Time waits for no one on the battlefield, and it is unlikely that a direct copycat will be made. The bigger possibility is to take our aircraft as a blueprint, adjust part of the design and then imitate it.

In this way, the time required cannot be estimated, mainly depends on the highest industrial level of Britain and France. If their engine technology passes the test, it may only take a few months to be able to copy it. "

Similar to Franz's judgment, the reverse deduction technique is not difficult. As long as there are aircraft samples in hand, disassembly and research can always yield something.

The difficulty is industrial production, which involves many fields. Everyone has different industrial standard systems, so it is difficult to achieve unified standards.

However, the aircraft is also a high-precision field, and the size of a screw is different, which may affect industrial production.

For details, you can refer to some copycat enterprises in later generations. The low-end industrial products are easily imitated, and they are blinded in the high-tech field.

The sample is in front of us, and the technology has been deduced in reverse, but it cannot be produced. You must know that technical barriers are more difficult to break than patent barriers.

After entering the late 19th century, the technological gap between European countries was not only in the concept, but reflected in the industrial field.

Britain, France, and Austria have different technology trees. Everyone has their own advantages in certain fields. Aircraft manufacturing happens to be a partial field of Britain and France.

After weighing the pros and cons, Franz made a decision.

"Sell it! But it must be restricted and the Russians can ensure that the plane will not flow out. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will send people to watch and delay the spread of aircraft technology as much as possible."

As long as there are exports, the proliferation of aircraft manufacturing technology is inevitable. Even if the British and French do not copy them, the Russians themselves will disassemble and study them.

Austrian weapons and equipment exported to Russia have not escaped the fate of being studied. Not only was it to be studied, the tsarist government even carried out imitations.

Although the basic industrial systems of Russia and Austria are the same, the industrial standards of the two sides have long been different from the same level.

Most of the time, the weapons and equipment that the Russians counterfeit will be much more expensive to produce than imported.

In this context, even the tsarist government has always wanted to get rid of the dependence on Austria in the military industry, and finally lost in the wallet.

Ordinary weapons and equipment are like this, not to mention high-tech aircraft. Franz dared to assert that even if the technical drawings were sent to the Russians, there would be no three to five years.

They can't get enough of the kung fu.

As long as the finished product does not fall into the hands of the French, even if France and Russia are secretly collaborating, at most a few military experts will be sent to study it, and no matter how many, it cannot be kept secret.

Compared with concentrating experts in related fields to participate in research, it is undoubtedly much less efficient to only participate in research by individual people.

In particular, knowledge outside the professional field is very easy to be missed. Whether it can be done before the end of the war is unknown.

Moreover, even if it is done, aircraft technology is also generational. Aircraft exported to the Russians, as long as they can deal with airships, do not need to be too advanced at all.

...

In London, after the roar of ships, a special guest stepped off a luxurious passenger ship.

Arriving in the fog again, Karel Kadlec's heart was heavy. Even with the welcome queue on both sides of the line, it is not very cold.

As France's only ally, the British government is naturally the focus of the French foreign ministry's PR. In order to show the great importance attached to the British, Karel Kadlec went out in person.

Unfortunately, judging from the current situation, his plan is basically voided. The British just received a routine reception, and did not come up with a grand welcome ceremony.

Karel Cardletz couldn't help but think too much. In such a special period, if the British intend to support France, they must release a friendly gesture.

The reality is very cruel, and the lukewarm attitude of the British poured cold water on Karel Cadlec's trip to London.

Dragging her tired body, she attended the welcome banquet as usual. Sure enough, there was no accident. Not to mention members of the royal family, even high-level British government officials did not attend. Of course, the diplomats in charge of reception were not counted.

...

At midnight, in the French embassy in London, Karel Cadlec asked solemnly, "At the banquet just now, I noticed something was wrong with George's expression. What happened in London recently?"

Observation is a basic skill for diplomats, and Karel Kadleitz, the foreign secretary, is no stranger to it.

It's just the instinct of a diplomat to cover up his emotions. After noticing the strangeness of George, it immediately attracted the attention of Karel Cardlets.

There have been no new major events in the world recently. The biggest hot spot is the European War. Generally speaking, it is still in a stalemate.

In the absence of major changes in the international situation, the only thing that can make the British Foreign Secretary worry is the domestic political struggle.

As much as he would love to see infighting jokes in the Brits, Karel Cadlec is well aware that now is not the time.

His trip to London was in vain once the British government was caught in a political fight. Before the internal situation was stabilized, it was difficult for the British to play a substantial role in the continental war.

"What happened in London?" Minister Ambroise was stunned for a moment, and then he reacted: "No, Your Excellency. London has been very stable recently, and nothing major has happened.

If anything, it should be India. Rumors spread that the Russians launched a Christmas offensive not long ago, and the British suffered a big loss on the battlefield.

The British government blocked the news in this regard, and we couldn't figure out what happened for a while. "

Hearing the words "blocked news", Karel Kadlec immediately realized the seriousness of the problem.

You must know that under the British political system, it is not so simple to block news. Most of the time, the news of reporters will be one step faster.

There is no way, British politics is taking turns. Blocking the news is refreshing, and the opposition party will definitely come up with it afterwards. After the news came to light, the public's support for the cabinet would drop significantly.

As a last resort, the British government will not do this.

After thinking for a while, Karel Kadlec said solemnly: "The people who started us should figure out the ins and outs of the matter as soon as possible.

If it really doesn't work, I'll startle the snake. Find a few tabloids, release the news of the fall of Afghanistan, and test the response of the British government. "

Know thyself, ever-victorious.

If you want to pull the British on board, you don't even know what happened in Britain, how can you do it?

"Your Excellency, this is not good. In case the British find out..."

Before Minister Ambroise could finish speaking, Karel Cadlec interrupted: "What are you afraid of, this was originally made for the British.

After staying in London for so long, don't you know what John Bull's style is? "

The more he got to know the British, the less Karel Cadlec took the so-called "Anglo-French friendship" for granted.

The premise of allies is interests, without interests, there is no alliance. As long as the interests are in place, no amount of contradiction can stop Britain and France from moving closer.

As for whether it will offend the British government, that is completely overthinking.

Karel Cadlecs doesn't believe that the British did not set up eyes and ears in the French embassy. It is estimated that the plan to scare the snakes has not been implemented, and the British will know.

If you really want to do something, you must at least do a good job of keeping it secret. How can you give an order in front of many embassy staff?

Essentially, Karel Kadlec wanted to tell the British through these small means: France already knew the news of the British defeat in Afghanistan; now it is not just France that needs Britain, Britain also needs France.

After all, the Russian-Austrian alliance seems to be very stable. If France really loses in the European War, British India will also be in danger.

risk.

In this respect, Britain and France are also tied together, and both are lost.

As for whether the British would see it this way, no one has yet been able to answer this question.