Chapter 822 Send troops? Pay for it!

Chapter 822 Send troops? Pay for it!

At this time, all the battleships of the Austrian Imperial Navy had been converted to steam power, so they could maintain high speed in the windless zone of the Mediterranean, which the British Navy obviously could not do yet.

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

If the British and Austrian main fleets encountered each other with similar numbers, Friedrich felt that his chances of winning were 99%, and the remaining 1% would be due to extreme situations such as tsunamis or meteor showers.

As for seizing the island, it is not a problem. Over the years, Friedrich has intensively pondered the British Mediterranean Navy and cultivated a large number of internal agents on the island of Crete.

It is no exaggeration to say that Friedrich knew every move on Crete even better than the British commander of the Mediterranean Navy.

As for the Albanian fleet used to deter Austria, it was too delicate. The Austrian navy could completely crush it, or directly let the army attack their ports.

To be honest, the British garrison in Albania did not feel that they could hold the Austrians by the throat, and they had already been beaten out of temper by the local guerrillas and "mercenaries".

In fact, Franz often sent his mercenaries who were skilled in assassination to circle around the British station twice when they had nothing to do.

Franz didn't want those British guys to be idle at the door of Austria's house. They had to know that they were just abandoned sons of the British, just lambs to be slaughtered.

The annual attrition of up to 40% caused the British Navy to talk about this place internally, and gave it a very Greek name "Gates of Hades".

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

So Count Latour could only apologize and explain.

"I don't know much about the situation of the navy, but the Strait of Gibraltar does not border our country. The army has to pass through France and Spain to reach it. This is something we can't do, but if we let our army have a head-on confrontation on land, it will definitely make the British cry. Father calls mother."

Due to some changes in the political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, military, and technological fields, Austria's top leadership is now extremely bloated.

Metternich dared to go to war with France before, but now the two military bosses clamoring to beat the British was just a microcosm.

But they still think of the war too simply. If it is a short-lasting local war, Austria is now very confident that it will beat the opponent to the ground before the opponent can react.

But what if it is a long-term all-out war? If the attack fails for a long time and the war reaches a stalemate and is consumed, then Austria itself will be the first to collapse.

Those contradictions concealed by rapid economic development and high welfare will erupt in a concentrated manner. The more people support the empire now, the more they hope the empire will be destroyed by then.

In fact, the issue of the Strait of Gibraltar is a common problem in the entire Mediterranean countries. Austria can join France and Spain to challenge the United Kingdom and let them feel the maliciousness from the European continent.

Then contact the United States, Brazil, Oman, Afghanistan, and Indian states to attack the British at the same time. The armies of Nanming and Chenla can completely cut off the Strait of Malacca.

After all, Singapore is dominated by Chinese, and the surrounding aboriginal living areas have been completely penetrated by the church. When the time comes, the inside and outside should be coordinated, and the chances of winning with deliberate calculations and unintentional calculations should be very high.

But the problem is that even this may not necessarily defeat the British, because this alliance does not have a real core, and each member is easily satisfied. As long as the British are willing to provide chips, some will withdraw from the war or even switch sides.

The entire conference hall soon became noisy, and Franz's behavior of selling grain to Britain at a low price (relatively low, but several times higher than at home) met with a lot of opposition.

The senior officials felt that as long as Austria stopped selling grain to the British, there would be a famine in Britain. By then, the British would not be able to take care of themselves and would not choose to go to war.

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

Sometimes money is the most advantageous proof. Franz took out the financial report that he had prepared and handed it to every senior official.

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

"Archduke Franz, do you want it?"

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

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

What if we lose? Will they cede territory and seek peace, or accept a humiliating treaty? Will neighboring countries take this opportunity to add insult to injury? "

After being poured cold water on Franz, the mood of the senior officials finally eased, and they soon discovered that what Franz said was not wrong.

Rather than crossing the ocean to fight an uncertain war, perhaps buying it with money is a better choice.

Friedrich agreed with this point. Although he wanted to fight the British, as the richest aristocratic family in Austria, he had been taught since he was a child that problems that could be solved with money were not problems.

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

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

As for Count Latour, he was not very advocating war, because his army had no use at all unless he went to fight Albania.

But that is just a port garrisoned by 3,000 people. Austria can destroy it with up to 20,000 people, but what does that have to do with the outcome of the entire war?

Although Archduke Friedrich did achieve many epic victories, they were all against some indigenous and Arabs.

The British had achieved even more amazing results 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 very rich, but he did not expect to have so much money. There were too many unknowns about war with the British, but negotiations were well within his realm.

Although Count Korolaf was a Croatian, he was a fanatical German nationalist and he himself felt that he was German.

However, Old Pretorius's "Boer" words had reached his ears, and Count Korolaf did not want to be taken advantage of.

But if he paid for the land, he supported it with both hands. After all, even if it was proved that the Boers were not Germans, the land still belonged to Austria, and at least he would not lose money by doing so.