Chapter 1358 Clay-Footed Giant

Compared to torpedoes, submarine technology is much more mature. As early as the American Revolutionary War, Americans had already developed early submarines.

Later, during the Anti-French War, American Fulton built the first submarine that could be used in actual combat, the "Nautilus", with the support of Napoleon.

However, it was not the one in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, but even so, its influence can be seen.

People only know that Napoleon rejected Fulton's steamship and lost the war, but they don't know that the former had cooperated with the latter long ago.

The "Nautilus" failed to sink any British warship, and Fulton actually wanted to sell the secret of the "Nautilus" to the British, which caused a deep gap between the French and Fulton.

In 1804, Fulton went to Britain to brag about his great weapon to the then British Prime Minister William Pitt, but was strongly opposed by the British Navy.

The then Navy Minister called Fulton's submarine a dangerous "toy" and declared that as long as the "Nautilus" could sink the "Victory", he would fill his estate with "Nautilus".

In 1848, a Bavarian artillery sergeant named William Bauer invented a new submarine that could dive to a depth of sixty meters and move underwater.

Franz would naturally not let go of such a capable person, but he only learned from Bauer's experience.

With the changes of the times, inventors with wilder paths like this can only provide some ideas when studying large precision instruments. To improve standards and mass production, real professionals still need to calculate repeatedly.

As for Friedrich personally, he still appreciates mines. Friedrich thinks that both submarines and torpedoes are a bit too illusory, while mines are more practical.

In fact, Friedrich believes that as long as the mines are laid enough and densely, there is no solution, because as far as the currently known means are concerned, there is no way to quickly and effectively solve the problem of large areas of mines.

So Friedrich has been vigorously studying mines, striving to design them to be more concealed and more deadly.

Franz did not deny that mines were powerful, but he had no means to deal with them. Franz didn't want to use mines too much, he was afraid that some weak countries would learn to counter the navy of the Austrian Empire.

Franz was not afraid of the torpedo, because human courage was limited, but he was afraid of mines, because morality had no bottom line.

In the Near East, the war between Russia and the Ottomans was developing in an almost weird way. The Russian army, which should have been the attacking party, was on the defensive, while the Ottomans, who should have been the defending party, were actually attacking actively.

Ahmed Yilmaz was born in a prominent family, but after returning from studying in France, he resolutely chose to join the army despite the opposition of his family and wife.

Over the years, Yilmaz has continued to emerge in the Ottoman New Army. He was quickly promoted from a sergeant to a colonel, partly because of military merit and partly because of his family's "money power".

Yilmaz was very excited because they had just wiped out a company of Russian troops, and he personally executed the Russian officer who refused to surrender.

What made Yilmaz even more excited was that Orma Pasha, the supreme commander, actually wanted to meet him and listen to his views on the war.

"Olma Pasha, the Russians are now short of food and grass, and they are short of troops. We have 280,000 people. We should march directly into Moldavia, go around the enemy's rear, and then eat up the 50,000 Russian troops in front of us!

In this way, even if the Russian follow-up troops arrive, they will not be able to continue to attack, and the threat from the Russians will naturally be lifted.

If the emperor really wants to lead the army in person, we don't mind capturing him alive and sending him to the Sultan."

The generals around laughed. At this moment, all the Ottomans present were very optimistic about the prospects of this war.

However, Orma Pasha remained silent. He had fought for so many years, how could he not see this opportunity?

The problem is that although Moldavia is a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, it is the sphere of influence of the Russians. As for going deep into the Russian border to encircle the Russians, he dare not even think about it.

Now all the battles are taking place on the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and they can barely be called defensive operations.

Once the war spreads to Russian territory, the nature of the war will change.

The Ottomans are not afraid of the Russians. After all, whether the Ottomans are afraid or not, the Russians will fight them.

The Ottomans are afraid of the Austrian Empire, which has just defeated France, and are afraid of being attacked from both sides by the Austrians and the Russians.

So even if Olma Pasha had the courage, he would not dare to go to Russian land to fight the Russians.

This kind of war that can neither be won nor lost is simply suffocating. However, this is the helplessness of the secondary power. No great power wants the birth of a new great power, especially around itself.

Olma Pasha knows very well that the Austrian Empire will never sit idly by and watch Russia be defeated. Although the Austrians may not want Russia to continue to grow, they will never allow the Ottoman Empire to rise again.

And the Russians are not as easy to deal with as they seem. If the Russians really stick to their post, then the Ottoman army may not be able to eliminate this Russian vanguard before the Russian reinforcements arrive.

On the Russian side, Nicholas I was also very frustrated. His plan to lead the expedition in person failed to materialize. The three months that Franz had bought for Russia were about to pass, but the main force of the Russian army was still on the way.

The only two troops had been defeated by the Ottomans and could not advance for several months.

At this time, Russia had hundreds of thousands of troops, but could not send them to the front line, so Nicholas I's hair loss became more serious.

According to his idea, the Russian army should take advantage of the battle between Britain, France and Austria in Spain to occupy Constantinople, but the reality was that heavy snow fell before the Russian army was assembled, and the soldiers could not move forward at all.

Those Cossacks were not afraid of wind and snow, but those damn guys liked to raise prices. If it was not the time to use people, Nicholas I would have wanted to hang all those guys.

Moreover, most of the Cossack troops were cavalry, and they could not play much role in the front-line offensive.

On the other hand, the Polish issue was becoming more and more difficult. Paskevich's accidental injury made the Polish front somewhat leaderless.

The situation that had been clear became tense again.

Alexander, who had just returned from Austria, had some suggestions:

"The best way to solve the problem of troop and material delivery on the Western Front is to build a railway like the Austrians did.

As for the Poles, first, stop the religious reform and execute the officials who falsely conveyed the Tsar's orders. Second, liberate the serfs in Poland, promise liberal reforms, and restore the status of the kingdom.

Third, execute the initiators and leaders of the rebellion."