After sending everyone away, Franz's tense face instantly eased. It was clear that he wasn't really angry.

It is a natural part of the army, navy, and air force to compete for military spending, and this is also part of the balance of power. If the army, navy, and air force are not fighting, that is the real problem.

Seeing that Franz was not angry, Frederick asked with concern: "Father, which of the three plans proposed by the military just now do you prefer?" ”

It had nothing to do with curiosity, Frederick really couldn't make up his mind, and he didn't know who to support.

On the surface, the strategic plans put forward by the army, navy, and air force are all very operable. The success of any one of these plans would bring the Holy Roman Empire to its zenith.

All of them are "high-quality strategies", which do not analyze the advantages and disadvantages at all, but increase the difficulty of selection.

"Is this important?"

Franz asked rhetorically.

As if tortured by the soul, Frederick's mind kept flashing "this is important". It seems to be important, but it doesn't seem to be important at all.

The HRE military is still qualified, although the three proposed plans have their own flaws, but in the end they are still the same.

None of the other competitors have grown, and as long as the British are pulled down, the HRE will be the only world hegemon.

After a long time, Frederick replied slowly, "I see." ”

Looking at his son with a cautious face, Franz smiled: "No, you didn't understand. In fact, we don't have a choice.

Politics is never about winning or losing. It may be possible to win with the least amount of money by adopting a strategy alone, but we have to consider the actual situation.

A few years ago, the army was dominant, and in order to balance the strength of the military, I supported the navy, spun off the air force, and established the current triangular system of checks and balances.

Now the Navy and Air Force combined can barely compete with the Army, and at the same time, they have also touched the bottom line of the Army.

No matter how they make concessions, it is impossible for them to let the navy get the same amount of military spending as theirs, which is the pride of the army.

You should know how influential the Army is. The Holy Roman Empire was able to be established by an army of land.

More than 90 percent of the overseas fiefdom lords and emerging farmers were from the army, and more than seven levels of government bureaucrats served in the army.

Not to mention the civilians, our compulsory military service law is aimed at the army. The Navy and Air Force are both technical arms, and it is simply impossible for everyone to serve.

With so many supporters, it is impossible for the Army to lose. As long as they insist on not giving in, even if the Air Force and Navy join forces, it will not work.

We can't just go out in person and pull the shelf, right? ”

The emperor personally went down the field to pull the shelf, just like the referee went off the field to kick the ball. Just think about it, no mature monarch would do that.

Even the previous support of the Navy and the stripping of the Air Force were all in the charge of the Cabinet, and Franz never personally went down the field from beginning to end, let alone now.

Perhaps for the army, navy, and air force, this military spending competition is of great importance and has a bearing on their development in the next 10 years.

But for the emperor and the Holy Roman Empire, no matter which option was chosen, the final outcome was doomed.

This is a decision of comprehensive national strength, and to this day, the HRE and Britain have opened up a qualitative gap.

Counting colonial citizens, the total population of the Holy Roman Empire is already as high as 160 million, and there are 120 million in Europe alone.

In Britain, on the other hand, the British Isles combined are only more than 30 million, and the total population of the overseas colonies is only a little over 40 million.

Of course, if you count the indigenous colonies, this ratio is reversed. India alone has three or four hundred million, and the entire British Empire controls a total population of more than 500 million, while the HRE is less than 180 million.

It is true that the British Empire had a large population, but unfortunately it was not well utilized. Primitive colonial rule is okay to loot wealth, but it is far from enough to increase national strength.

Comparing the data, the total economic volume of the Holy Roman Empire is one-fifth higher than that of the entire British Empire (including the colonies), and the total industrial volume is 2.5 times that of Britain.

This is just the beginning, and the gap continues to widen over time.

If you have such a big advantage, you can lose in the end, and Franz doesn't have to mess around.

Deliberately expressing dissatisfaction, in addition to knocking the military, the main thing is that Franz hopes that the military will be able to compromise with each other.

Unless the British admit defeat in advance, no matter which strategy they choose, they will need the cooperation of the army, navy, and air force in the future, and it will be nothing more than a matter of priority and priority.

Even if the three armed forces compromised, it would be a waste of financial resources to develop at the same time, and Franz admitted it.

This is the helplessness of the big countries, and in order to balance the interests of all parties, almost every big country will face the problem of waste of resources.

……

The battle for military spending continued, but the newborn "Roma" had problems first. When the armament and supporting facilities were completed, everyone suddenly discovered that the "Roma"'s ability to resist wind and waves was very average.

There is nothing surprising that almost all test ships have problems of one kind or another. The perfect product is produced in one go, and it is not suitable for warships.

In the Navy, there has always been a saying that "the design is ahead, but the construction is backward".

The "Roma" is good, at least it still maintains the world's leading level after it is completed. The "super battleship" of the British is still being designed, and other countries are not even interested in following suit.

Despite the lack of resistance to wind and waves, as well as a small problem, it cannot hide the strong combat effectiveness of the "Roma", at least it is strong enough in the Mediterranean.

Having been caught, the army naturally wanted to use the topic to play. As long as it was proved that the "Roma" did not have the capability of ocean-going naval warfare, the Admiralty's super battleship program could only be aborted.

It's a pity that Franz has long been familiar with this little trick, and he won't give everyone a chance to speak: "Block the news, the defects of the Roma will be stopped, and there will be no need to talk about it in the future."

The lack of resistance to wind and waves does not affect its use in the Mediterranean. When the Navy arranges the mission, pay attention to it, just don't let it out of the Mediterranean.

Follow-up propaganda continues, as long as the World Cruise item is removed.

The exploration of new technologies is inherently full of uncertainties, and we can still bear this risk. ”

Originally, the HRE Navy had the reputation of "bathtub navy", and Franz didn't mind making it a worthy one. If the British want to see a joke, let them see enough first.

To put it another way, to be able to use the Mediterranean Sea as a bathtub is another achievement.

Throughout human history, which country has used the Mediterranean Sea as a bathtub has not been awesome?

As long as it does not leave the Mediterranean, the "Roma" is a real super-battleship. Whether it's holding up the façade or taking it out to be scary, it can be properly arranged.

Deep down, Franz had already made up his mind that he would not be ready to put the "Roma" on the battlefield unless it was really necessary.

After all, it is a test ship, and no one knows how many pits it has stepped on. Specifically, you can refer to the first generation of dreadnoughts in the countries of the original time and space, which are all pits of various flower styles.

A 100-year navy does not mean that the navy must develop for 100 years, but the navy's warships need to spend 100 years constantly stepping on pits, wading through mines, and accumulating various lessons and lessons.

For Franz, as long as the test ship is unsinkable and able to go to sea normally, it is qualified. As for other problems, it is completely possible to wait for the second and third generations to improve.

Although Franz's words exempted him from in-depth accountability, the Admiralty's "super battleship plan" fell short first.

Everyone can tolerate a "Roma" that can't go out of the Mediterranean, but if you build more than 20 ships in one go, then no one can really bear it.

Even if the Admiralty repeatedly assured that similar problems would not occur again with the warships behind, everyone did not dare to accompany them on adventures.

Of course, the Roma is not without merit. At least the combat effectiveness is really strong, as long as it has avoided the bad wind and wind, it is still the king in the naval battle.

In the end, the Admiralty's "25 super battleships in five years" plan was cut to "five in five years", and it was the first to be eliminated from this battle for military spending.

Looking at Castagni's unwilling eyes, Franz knew that the matter was not over, and estimated that the problem was solved, and the Navy was going to put forward the "super battleship plan" again.

With the Royal Navy, a competitor, helping to set up the stage and singing, I believe that this day will not come too late.

……

Reducing the scale of shipbuilding is not the same as cutting the intensity of propaganda. As the brightest "cub" of the year, "Roma" is still the darling of the media.

After the supporting facilities were perfected, the "Roma" wandered around the Mediterranean Sea, and under the guise of exchanging experiences, it continued to visit the countries bordering the Mediterranean.

Every country that goes to it inevitably has to conduct a joint military exercise.

The most difficult thing was the newly independent Italian states, holding a small destroyer of more than 1,000 tons and a joint exercise of more than 20,000 tons of "Roma", and the scene was simply ......

If it weren't for the different national flags hoisted, it is estimated that everyone would regard them as little followers, and it would be impossible to believe that this was a joint military exercise.

There is no way, in order to stir up the heat, the Vienna government has to do this. It was only when the momentum was built that the British Parliament was willing to allocate funds to the Royal Navy.

Thinking so well for the enemy, it's also drunk to think about it. However, in order to consume the national power of the British, Franz decided to do it.

Regardless of whether the HRE Navy could surpass the British in the era of dreadnoughts, at least in this wave of warship replacement, the losses of the British were more than 70% greater than those of the Shinra.

Who made them have more warships?

Catching up with this era of naval technological revolution, whoever has the largest number of warships will suffer the greatest losses.