Schönbrunn Palace, the Royal Gardens.

Friedrich shook his head, saying that he did not know the country cousin named Ambrosius, and that he had no interest in fighting the natives of Southeast Asia.

Franz wanted to persuade him again, but Friedrich seemed to have an iron heart.

If you can't ask the Austrian navy for help, then it's up to the Church.

But teaching this kind of thing is a double-edged sword, the more you use it, the more you rely on it, and the more you use it, the easier it is to lose its tail.

If you really make up your mind to solve the problems of the church, you will either have to endure the pain of digging up the flesh and scraping the bones, or spend dozens or even hundreds of years to wear off its influence.

"And what are your plans?" Franz asked.

"Of course, it is to be transported to Mexico for armed transport, and the Count of Tular is worried about this matter. Count Tural will be glad then, because the equipment sold to Mexico will bring him one step closer to his plans. ”

Franz was aware of Count Tural's plan, of course, but in Franz's eyes it was stupid and meaningless.

Because the Austrian Army wants to update the M1831 front-loading smoothbore gun, although it is the latest smoothbore gun, but there is no very obvious improvement in firepower and other aspects.

The M1831 front-loading smoothbore gun is a little better than the smoothbore gun produced in Austria in the last century, the ignition method has changed from firing to firing, the caliber is larger, the barrel length is longer, the power is greater than before, and it also has more advantages when fighting bayonets.

In fact, in 1836, Dreisai completed the design of a needle pistol that was loaded from behind.

At that time, rifles were loaded from the muzzle, and loading from the back was a very "rebellious" practice.

However, the Prussian government recognized the superiority of this rifle, so the government immediately acquired the invention.

The government took over everything and classified it as secret, developed in secrecy

Franz also wrote anonymously to the military reminding him of the huge advantages of breech guns, but in the eyes of the military's top brass this was complete nonsense.

The breech gun is too expensive, and there are a lot of hidden dangers, and it is even less easy to repair.

The main thing is the way of loading from the breech, which looks less elegant.

One general even mocked that "a noble man should eat with his mouth, not his ass, and the same goes for a gun." ”

In fact, breech guns have long been around, and the earliest should have been the Ferguson rifle.

The Alex Ferguson is not the manager of Manchester United, but the protagonist of the text "The Unfired Shot".

He once spared Washington, the first president of the United States, and here he does not call Washington the "Father of the United States", because I only recognize the "Father of the United States" as Louis XVI.

However, the snipers of the Americans did not spare him, and Ferguson and his Ferguson rifle have since become history.

In fact, the real reason for the burying of the Ferguson rifle was not Captain Ferguson, but its excessively expensive price, the cost of 150 pounds discouraged many nobles.

The other is the Hall rifle, which Americans are proud of, and is said to have a range of up to 1,200 meters, shoot up to 10 times per minute, and shoot a penny from 500 meters.

Of course, this is just American folklore, after all, the above performance can already be compared to the rifle of World War II.

In history, a group of Rangers armed with Hall rifles were wiped out while driving the Indians, and in the book, American volunteers armed with Hall rifles were hammered to the ground by the Mexicans.

In fact, the Hall rifle has a fatal flaw, that is, the airtightness is seriously insufficient.

This rifle has a figurative name called "paste", because the black powder used at that time, each time it burns, it will produce a large amount of residue, if it is not cleaned up, this rifle can be shot three or four times may lead to the leakage of the medicine room, and the remnants of black powder will be sprayed directly on the soldier's face, and even explode in serious cases.

Another characteristic of the lack of airtightness is that the thrust is very poor, even if the weight of gunpowder is increased, it can only reach one-third of the power of ordinary rifles, and long-distance shooting on the battlefield often occurs in the embarrassing situation of not being able to penetrate the plank, or shooting the same person several times without dying.

The M1826 smoothbore gun is very easy to use, but the cost is a bit high.

"I can understand that you want to go to Mexico, but Prime Minister Metternich is against getting involved in the Mexican Civil War." Franz said.

"Oh, it's easy. The navy can make a drill plan, after all, the Austrian navy has never sailed to the sea before, and the importance of the navy to a country in this era, I think Prince Metternich should also be aware of it. Friedrich replied.

Franz still wanted to persuade him again.

"Prince Metternich will not allow you to go to the belligerents with his navy, so let's consider building new warships in Trieste."

"America is so big, and it's not just Mexico, so it's easy to change course. As for the new ships, don't worry, I have a great group of mechanics who can build anything I want. Of course I will stay in Trieste for a month and leave when the plans are on track. ”

Friedrich understood the importance of the new warship, but he also wanted to train his troops, after all, he did not know the true strength of the Austrian navy, and at the same time to prepare for the big event that Franz said could change the fate of the Austrian Empire.

Theoretically, the Mexican navy was no threat to the Austrian naval fleet, but in this era of sea navigation, bad weather, disease, and even piracy could take human lives, and the uncertainty of naval battles was so great that Franz could only continue to remind him.

"Be careful, and if you can, it's best not to engage in pointless fights. Your mission this time is just to make deliveries, and the Imperial Austrian Navy is still waiting for you to carry it forward. ”

"This is a rare opportunity to fight, how could I give up. According to intelligence, the Mexicans did not even have a single battleship, only light gunboats left by the Spaniards. Friedrich said.

"Your intelligence may be wrong, and it seems that our Imperial Austrian Navy does not have battleships capable of long-distance voyages, only a few cruisers and frigates." Franz replied.

"Oh, dear Franz. You probably don't know much about the Navy and how difficult it is to sink a frigate with a light gunboat. Friedrich seemed unconcerned.

At this time, the high-explosive shells known as the "ship killers" had not yet been born, and everyone was still in the stage of throwing iron balls at sea in the sea battle, and the big ships undoubtedly had a huge advantage.

In fact, Friedrich's judgment was indeed correct, the light gunboats of the Mexican Navy were simply a joke in the face of Austrian cruisers, but at this time Austrian cruisers were also a joke in front of the main British battleships.

After that, Franz and Friedrich discussed the situation in Europe and the construction of the army, and the afternoon passed in a blink of an eye.

Franz invited Friedrich to dinner, but Friedrich refused, and he was busy going home to draw the blueprints of the battleship.

Friedrich glanced at Talia as he left, but Talia pretended to clean up the dishes on the table and avoided Friedrich's gaze.

After Friedrich left, Franz stared at Talia.

"Look what I do! Do I have flies on my face? Talia asked.

"Usually you don't clean up your own food, and you call servants, what's wrong today?"

Talia was annoyed by Franz's teasing, but she couldn't get angry in front of people, so she said with a smile.

"Grand Duke Franz, exercise is good for health."

"Okay, then come with me." Franz said.

Thanks to the book friend uffizi for the reward, and the first deacon of the book, it stands to reason that a separate chapter should be added, but today I encountered some situations (the group was blocked, the pot was pasted), and it may have to be postponed until tomorrow.

Thank you for the tips of xiaotang246 and the 20190706212226573 of book friends, the monthly pass of uffizi, and the support of all the officials.

Thank!

Finally, there is the daily ticket seeking stage.

New group number: 1169352392

(End of chapter)