Chapter 822 Send Troops? Send Money!

At this time, the warships of the Austrian Empire Navy have all been replaced with steam power, so they can maintain high speed in the doldrums of the Mediterranean, which the British Navy obviously cannot do at present.

Moreover, the main battleships of the Austrian Empire have basically completed the armored transformation, and even the early airships have been successfully tested.

If the main fleets of Britain and Austria meet in a situation of close numbers, Friedrich feels that his chances of winning are 99%, and the remaining 1% is encountering extreme situations such as tsunamis or meteor showers.

As for seizing the island, it is not a problem. For so many years, Friedrich has been intensively studying the British Mediterranean Navy and has cultivated a large number of internal responses on Crete.

It is no exaggeration to say that Friedrich knows every move on Crete better than the British Mediterranean Navy Commander.

As for the Albanian fleet used to deter Austria, it is too delicate. The Austrian Navy can completely run over it, or directly let the army attack their ports.

To be honest, the British garrison in Albania itself does not think that it can strangle the Austrians, and has long been beaten by local guerrillas and "mercenaries".

In fact, Franz often sent his mercenaries who were good at assassination to go around the British base.

Franz didn't want the British to stay at the doorstep of Austria. They must know that they were just abandoned by the British and were just lambs to be slaughtered.

The annual reduction of up to 40% made the British Navy change color when talking about this place, and gave it a very Greek name "Gate of Hades".

Friedrich's insistence made Count Latour very embarrassed. Although the latter was the former's boss, he himself was also an old subordinate of Archduke Karl, and it was not a smart move to ask royal family members to apologize to themselves in the dynasty.

So Count Latour could only apologize repeatedly and explain.

"I don't know much about the navy, but the Strait of Gibraltar is not adjacent to our country. The army has to pass through France and Spain to reach it, which we can't do. But if our army fights head-on on land, we will definitely beat the British to tears."

Due to some changes in the political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, military, and technological fields, the Austrian top brass is now extremely inflated.

Before, Metternich dared to go to war with France. At this time, the two military bosses clamoring to beat the British is just a microcosm.

But they still think the war is too simple. If it is a local war of shorter duration, Austria is now very confident that it will beat the other side before the other side reacts.

But what if it is a long-term full-scale war? If the attack fails for a long time, the war will fall into a stalemate and consumption, then Austria itself will collapse first.

The contradictions covered by the rapid economic development and high welfare will erupt in a concentrated manner. The more the people support the empire now, the more they hope that the empire will be destroyed at that time.

In fact, the problem of the Strait of Gibraltar is a common problem in the hearts of all the countries around the Mediterranean. Austria can completely join France and Spain to challenge Britain and let them feel the malice from the European continent.

Then contact the United States, Brazil, Oman, Afghanistan, and Indian states to attack Britain at the same time. The armies of Southern Ming and Zhenla can completely cut off the Strait of Malacca.

After all, Singapore is mainly composed of Chinese, and the surrounding areas where indigenous people live have been completely infiltrated by the church. At that time, the chances of winning with intentional and unintentional cooperation should be very high.

But the problem is that even so, it is not necessarily possible to defeat Britain, because this alliance does not have a real core, and each member is easy to satisfy. As long as the British are willing to make chips, some people will withdraw from the war or even turn against them.

The whole conference hall soon became a mess, and Franz's behavior of selling grain to Britain at a low price (relatively low, but several times higher than domestic) was opposed by many people.

The senior officials felt that as long as Austria stopped selling grain to the British, Britain would suffer from famine, and the British would naturally not choose to go to war when they could not take care of themselves.

But what they didn't know was that Franz made money by selling grain to the British, and it was an important measure to ensure that domestic grain prices would not be too low, leading to a decline in farmers' living standards.

Sometimes money is the most favorable proof. Franz took out the financial report that had been prepared and handed it to each senior official.

At this time, someone had already understood what Franz meant, and Prince Metternich asked.

"Archduke Franz, what do you want?"

"Yes, I am against sending troops, but I am not against paying money. And the Transvaal region is just a barren land. I think as long as we are willing to offer, the British will be willing to talk to us.

Have you ever thought about how much economic loss we will suffer if we go to war with the British? How many families will lose their children?

What if we lose the war? Will we cede land for peace? Will we accept a humiliating treaty? Will neighboring countries take this opportunity to add insult to injury?"

After being poured a basin of cold water by Franz, the emotions of the senior officials finally eased, and they soon found that what Franz said was not wrong.

Compared to crossing the ocean to fight an uncertain war, perhaps redemption with money is a better choice.

Friedrich agreed with this point very much. Although he wanted to fight the British, as the richest noble family in Austria, he was instilled with the idea that problems that can be solved with money are not problems.

And the Austrian navy was not ready for the war with Britain, because the British had too many fleets, and it was not a problem that could be solved in one war.

In addition to the number of ships, the British production capacity was also terrible. They could build a fleet in a very short time, which was something that no other country in the world could do.

As for Count Latour, he was not very much in favor of war, because his army had no place to use it, unless he went to fight Albania.

But it was just a port with 3,000 people stationed. Austria could flatten it with at most 20,000 people, but what did that have to do with the outcome of the entire war?

Although Archduke Frederick did win many epic victories, they were all against some natives and Arabs.

The British had fought even more amazing battles in the East, so this kind of war against non-Western countries had no reference value in his eyes.

Prince Metternich always thought that Franz was rich, but he didn't expect so much money. There were too many unknowns in going to war with the British, but negotiations were within his field.

Although Count Korolov was a Croatian, he was an ardent German nationalist and considered himself a German.

However, the words "Boers" from old Pretorius had reached his ears, and Count Korolov did not want to be used.

But if he paid for the land, he would support it with both hands. After all, even if it was proven that the Boers were not Germans, the land would still belong to Austria, so at least he would not lose out.