Chapter 428 Chief Terminator

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz, who had just finished reading the report, stretched himself. The long hours of reading made him feel a little tired that a young man should not have.

Franz felt that he needed a special organization and a group of professional talents to deal with these things, but for the time being he could not really establish such a department because he was not yet an emperor.

Military observation hot air balloons are not new.

In 1783, the French brothers Montgolfier invented the earliest hot air balloon.

At that time, the fuel used by the two brothers was a smelly leather boot, and the balloon was made of canvas with a layer of pulp on the outside.

Later, the French army took a fancy to this invention, and after the military's improvement, its practicality was greatly increased.

But it is also relative, and its danger is no less than fishing at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

On the one hand, there are endless accidents with hot air balloons themselves, and on the other hand, it is extremely susceptible to weather. Just a breeze in the sky can cause early hot air balloons to vibrate violently or even rotate, and the people in the hot air balloons are even more dangerous.

In addition to wind, hot air balloons are also not suitable for taking off in rainy and snowy weather.

So after the Napoleonic Wars, Europeans seemed to have forgotten about it, but Americans have always been obsessed with it.

It's just that the relevant technology is also developing slowly, and there is no essential difference from the hot air balloons during the Napoleonic Wars.

At this time, it was not someone else but Archduke Karl who had gone to Switzerland to propose the development of military hot air balloons.

The old general has always been obsessed with this reconnaissance tool used by the French. Under his auspices, Austria has also conducted related technology research and development.

But when Archduke Karl resigned, the hot air balloon unit was disbanded.

At this time, Austria did not have a special hot air balloon unit, but Marshal Radetzky formed a local hot air balloon unit in northern Italy.

But its organization is actually a cavalry regiment, and the subordinate unit is artillery.

In fact, Archduke Karl found out after arriving in Switzerland that the local terrain was much more complicated than he imagined.

After drilling in the Swiss ravines for several months, his body couldn't stand it. Even if an old man in his seventies is strong, his body is not as good as before.

But as a defense expert, how can he not know the local terrain in detail?

After struggling with himself for several days, Archduke Karl finally understood.

So he remembered the hot air balloon he encountered on the battlefield decades ago.

Since Friedrich had always called Franz the greatest military inventor in the world, Archduke Karl decided to write a letter to Franz, hoping that he really had the ability his son said.

In fact, real wars are not like real-time strategy games, where commanders can easily grasp the overall situation.

Even famous generals like Napoleon and Wei Qing could not stop their men from shopping during the war.

During the Battle of Waterloo, Wellington was waiting for the Prussian army, and Napoleon was waiting for Grouchy.

When the hillside of Waterloo was full of corpses, Grouchy was still eating breakfast at a farmer's house, and he was still on his way when the battle ended.

When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty went north to fight the Huns, Wei Qing was fighting a bloody battle with the main force of the Huns, but the flying general Li Guang got lost at the most critical moment of his life.

Mastering the battlefield dynamics is the problem that every commander wants to solve most, and the party with more accurate intelligence takes the initiative.

Franz naturally knew this, and hot air balloons are the easiest battlefield observation equipment for humans to master.

However, he felt that it was far from enough to just build some observation balloons. What Franz wanted was an airship.

In fact, although airships are much more advanced than hot air balloons, the technology used is not too advanced. Even the key technologies that have been plaguing the development of airships have been solved by Austria at this time.

A hot air balloon can only be regarded as an observation post at most, while an airship can be regarded as a weapon.

And in terms of safety alone, the safety of airships may be even higher.

Thinking of this, Franz decided to start researching the technology related to airships and hot air balloons.

To be honest, this just happened to match Franz's hobby. He was an airship enthusiast in the original world and had a good understanding of the structure and related technology of airships.

So it was effortless to design. Franz drew two design drawings, one of which was a soft airship, and the other was the pinnacle of airship development-the Zeppelin airship.

The Zeppelin airship is the legendary rigid airship, but it is still difficult to replicate it with current technology, so Franz plans to temporarily name it the "Sky Curtain Behemoth" plan.

In fact, in history, the French engineer Jafar invented the airship in 1852, but the airship at that time was not practical and the risk factor was also very high.

The speed is much higher than that of hot air balloons, but more often it is just regarded as a circus performance.

The airship with real military value was not developed until the end of the 19th century.

In fact, it is not difficult to transform an airship with military value and improve its safety.

As long as a multi-airbag design is used, it can be revitalized immediately. Of course, in order to ensure that it can play its maximum value, Franz still classified it as top secret.

When Archduke Karl saw the plan for "Sky Curtain Behemoth", he was shocked beyond words.

As an excellent commander, Archduke Karl is not lacking in imagination. He can already imagine a completely different battlefield.

The giant beast in the sky roared and cast a rain of destruction. Soldiers hid in the bunkers and aimed at each other with sniper rifles. The city became a ruin under the overwhelming rockets.

Archduke Karl suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. He took several deep breaths before he recovered.

Archduke Karl's heart hadn't beat like this for a long time. His blood was surging violently in his body.

"A new era may be just around the corner." Archduke Karl thought, suddenly laughed and threw the book he was writing into the fire.

After finishing all the work at hand, Franz stretched again.

This scene was seen by Adjani on the side, and the two looked at each other.

This time, Adjani looked away first, which made Franz feel a little strange, but he didn't care much.

What Franz didn't know was that the last time in the Old Town Opera House, after he had a secret conversation with the four principal dancers and left the room, they didn't come out for a long time.

But Franz was ready to leave with a normal look, saying that he had some important things to do. In fact, he wanted to set up the trap outside first, ready to catch all those who were following him.

Franz's friends looked into the box with great curiosity. They found that the four principal dancers were crying or laughing. They had upright postures and light dance steps on the stage, but now they had to support each other to leave.

"The first time is always so strange." Richard Metternich complained.

"It's worthy of being Franz. It's him."

A group of people blinked at each other. Although everyone was wearing masks, they all felt each other's malicious smiles.

From then on, Franz got the title of "chief terminator".