Chapter 197 The Archbishop’s Worries
"It is good to quickly capture the entire territory of Chenla, but does the Skitarii have enough troops? The size of the organization expands too fast, and how can loyalty be guaranteed? After losing the threat of powerful enemies, internal differences have become the main issue Question. Archbishop Rauscher, I hope you will pay attention to those potential threats."
Franz talked about his views on the Chenla area. As for whether those things would happen, he didn't know. Franz just didn't want Austria's good situation in Chenla to be ruined for no reason.
After capturing the entire territory of Chenla, there was another commodity that could be traded, and that was saltpeter.
Europe's military progress all relied on gunpowder, and one thing that was indispensable for making gunpowder at this time was saltpeter.
Saltpeter was not only an important military material at this time, but also an important raw material for making fertilizers.
Local methods of making saltpetre, hole saltpeter, etc. simply cannot keep up with the rate of consumption.
At this time, the only saltpeter exporting country was Chile. As for the price, it was still within an acceptable range, but the problem was that the price was extremely unstable.
The biggest role of Chenla's saltpeter is that Austria can open an arsenal in Chenla to achieve self-sufficiency in weapons, and at the same time, it can also slightly alleviate Austria's problem of insufficient saltpeter.
"Grand Duke Franz, Queen Anmei of Zhenla has agreed to change Christianity. Catholicism will become the state religion in the future, and the size of the Skitarii has been expanded to 40,000."
"The success of the Queen's conversion to Christianity is certainly gratifying. But Chenla is a country, not a parish. As administrative costs continue to increase, it is very likely that it will follow the footsteps of the East India Company."
"But with the Queen's support, we can legitimately take over the entire country. Chenla has even surrendered to Austria. This is the first and largest overseas colony of the Austrian Empire." Rauscher said proudly.
"Archbishop, look at the newspapers. The people don't care about this at all. And Queen Anmei, how many brigades does she have? In the past, you could use some colorful indulgences to make those parishioners fight to the death. But what about now?" Fran? Ci asked.
To put it bluntly, Queen Anmei, apart from symbolizing legitimacy, does not bring economic or military benefits in itself. From then on, all political, economic, and military pressures from Chenla fell on the church.
These things all require money to support them. In the past, the church could obtain some indulgences in the parish instead of currency, and frantically plundered resources from the Chenla area at no cost.
But at this time, with the burden of the country on its back, the currency must be supported by precious metal reserves, otherwise the country cannot even operate normally.
"We can still print indulgences, but the Chenla people didn't master this technology," Rauscher argued.
"But what about the French? What about the Austrians? Even if no one fishes in troubled waters now, they will appear sooner or later. Maybe the interior of the Chenla Church is already riddled with holes. Long-term pain is worse than short-term pain. Use white lead money and expected banknotes Instead of indulgences. For small transactions use white lead money, for large transactions use promissory notes."
Although Franz's answer was cruel, it was extremely realistic. Archbishop Rauscher also knew this, but he did not want to believe that those devout believers who could disregard life and death would become slaves of money.
In fact, this is easy to explain, because people are social, and those devout believers used to be separated from society, making them detached from the world.
However, in the process of missionary work, they will inevitably come into contact with ordinary people, which restores their social nature.
Archbishop Rauscher went through a complex ideological struggle and finally gave up thinking. After all, the Archduke Franz in front of us is a born saint, so we can just listen.
"You are right, Archduke Franz. Everything will be done as you ordered. I will send people to clean up those cancers and let them get the punishment they deserve."
"For the stability of Zhenla, a divide-and-conquer approach can be adopted. The areas originally occupied by the church will continue to be managed by the church. As for those areas that have just been recovered, they can be allowed to elect themselves, or Queen Anmei can appoint people to manage them. As long as the language is unified , as long as weights, measures and guarantees are based on one country.”
The main reason why Franz said this was that Chenla's territory and soldiers had expanded too much, and if this continued, there would be a civil war. Once a civil war breaks out, all the church's previous efforts will be in vain.
In fact, Rauscher unknowingly walked into a trap. In the past, the church appeared as a savior, and people would naturally be willing to support it. But once it became the controller of the country, it had to stand in front of the stage and communicate with ordinary people. If you stand on the opposite side, your so-called faith will naturally be greatly compromised.
Archbishop Rauscher didn’t quite understand what Franz meant, but there were many smart people in the church who could answer these questions for him, and all he had to do was accept and implement them.
"The Siamese have placed a large order for weapons with us, just in case." Archbishop Rauscher did not continue.
Franz knew what he was afraid of. Rauscher was afraid that the Siamese (Thailand) people would use the weapons sold to them by Austria to attack Chenla in turn.
This is indeed possible, but if it does happen, it only means that Austria is too weak. Because it hesitates to move forward, today is defeated by yesterday. That kind of country does not deserve sympathy.
Of course, this is only theoretical. In actual operation, the monkey version of the weapon is a necessary choice.
The human version refers to the original genuine version, which has complex technology, difficult production, and high cost; the monkey version refers to the simplified version, which removes some complex functions, has simple technology, easy production, and low cost.
The Siamese's opponents are mainly Malay natives, Laos and Vietnamese. The level of firearms used by these opponents is not high, and it does not make much sense for Austria to sell them the latest rifles. It is better to directly occupy them with a large number of cheap goods. Market, let them give up the idea of imitating.
"Archbishop, I believe the military will be very happy to hear this news. If the military's inventory is exhausted, you can have people make it yourself in Chenla. In a few days, I will ask Archduke Albrecht to send you two Two drawings, one for the Skitarii and the other for manufacturing goods."
"But Archduke Franz, if we use two designs, will the cost increase?" Archbishop Rauscher said with some worry.
It seems that the archbishop has really seriously considered selling weapons. Weapon manufacturing in this era is still an era when factories and handicraft workshops run parallel, and the so-called factories are just larger workshops, and the concept of assembly lines has not yet been proposed.
Therefore, Archbishop Rauscher's worries are normal, but the monkey version of the weapon is actually a simplification of the original version. The simplest way to limit the Siamese's combat effectiveness is to change the ignition method from mercury fulminate firing to subsequent firing.
The climate in Southeast Asia is humid and rainy, which is an important reason why matchlocks have never been able to replace cold weapons. Let Albrecht go, just to see if there is any way to save costs more.
"Don't worry, Archbishop. I will definitely be able to give you a plan that can weaken the fighting power of the Siamese and make money for the church at the same time."
(In this era, the Austrian army did not have a division-level organization. An infantry regiment had about 2,000 people, a brigade had 4,000 people, and a corps with five brigades had about 20,000 people.)
In the next chapter, a new character will appear. It was decided by a vote in the group before, Miss Miko.