Schönbrunn Palace, Franz's study.

Franz always believed that there was no need for him to take sides when watching hooligans fight.

As long as Austria does not act as a dog leg of the British, other acts are acceptable to Franz.

Of course, Franz will not do nothing, at least not to allow the British to fully grasp the initiative in negotiations.

There was nothing left to plunder along the coast of Egypt, and the hot weather was not conducive to the march of its own army officers, so it was a good time to take a break in the desert to escape the heat.

So the Austrian army in the coalition was in full swing, in fact, there is no one in this world who likes to fight, unless it is involuntary, or the temptation is too great, no one wants to pin their head to the waistband of their trousers.

Friedrich was dissatisfied with the Austrian navy's surprise attack on Alexandria, and two storms in one operation greatly reduced the fleet's profits.

The small boats and supplies on them that were taken from Egypt, as well as the Egyptians who were responsible for driving them, lost almost half.

Of course, the surviving Egyptians did not resent Friedrich, but prayed for him with great gratitude.

However, it was a disgrace to the high-spirited rising star of the navy, and Friedrich removed the navigator from his post and ordered him to erect a monument to each victim to atone for his sins.

In fact, the navigator is also very wronged, after all, sea navigation is full of unknown risks, and he only makes judgments based on experience.

Weather forecasting in this era was still in the metaphysical stage, and seafarers could only make guesses based on their own experience and the weather at the time.

But Friedrich didn't think so, and he decided to go to Franz to see if there was anything he could do with this cunning imp.

Royal Gardens.

Franz looked at the slightly diminutive uncle with some helplessness.

"The current technological conditions are not enough to solve this problem, I have some equipment here that you may be able to use."

To be honest, Friedrich's question is too advanced, not to mention that Austria does not have the ability to establish weather stations all over the Mediterranean, and even if there are weather stations, the information cannot be transmitted in time, and the massive calculations that can be transmitted in time are not done by anyone.

Historically, an attempt by 64,000 mathematicians to calculate information about weather changes at the same time has of course failed. Even at the end of World War II, humans were unable to predict the weather accurately.

Adjani brought a box and placed it in front of Friedrich.

"What is this?" Friedrich was immediately excited to find the weather predictor of his dreams.

"Thermometer, hygrometer, rain gauge, anemometer, wind vane, barometer" Adjani helped to introduce.

"So much trouble? Are all of these useful?" Friedrich asked.

"Yes," Franz nodded.

"With this, will I be able to predict the weather?"

"I can't."

Friedrich frowned immediately.

"So what's the use of me asking for this?"

"They can be a bit of a support and can give you some data to make your guesses more grounded." Franz replied.

“.” Friedrich was speechless.

"Is there really nothing you can do?"

"There is no way, even in another hundred years, it may not be able to solve this problem."

"It turns out that there are times when you are powerless, Miss Adjani, you look at Franz's powerless and natural look, it's really funny." Friedrich smiled awkwardly as Adjani only responded with a smirk.

"The Radical Tactic is useless to me, it's really beyond my ability." Franz was not very happy either, Friedrich clearly thought of himself as a robot cat, and this feeling of powerlessness was very unpleasant.

"Okay then." Friedrich didn't dwell on it either.

"Can your rockets be modified again, they are always flying in the sky, and although they can now be guaranteed to fly forward, there is still no control over where they will blow up."

It just so happened that the design of the rodless spin rocket had been completed recently, and Franz took out the drawings.

"What is this? Like an old-fashioned long-barreled artillery. ”

"That's the one in front of the launcher, that's the main body of the rocket."

"Wouldn't the shaking be worse without the wooden pole?"

"No, because of the addition of the rear wing, this wooden pole is redundant. After removing the wooden pole, it will be more stable. And you look at the rocket tail. ”

Friedrich looked at it twice, and saw nothing different.

"Isn't it just that the direction of the rear wing has changed?"

"No, it's called a spiral tail, and it can use the flame emitted by the rocket to rotate itself to achieve stability, and its accuracy is far greater than that of previous long-pole rockets." Franz replied proudly.

In fact, the installation of a tail on a long-pole rocket is completely a waste of money, and the things created are not very practical. The design of the spiral tail is not complicated, and it is very easy to modify, but it needs to increase the amount of gunpowder, so it needs the help of a hydraulic press.

"How much you like the spiral design, and so did the propellers before you, what a strange guy."

"Get out."

"How much more accuracy can be improved?"

"Ten times!"

"That's not much"

"At the very least, it won't hit the soldiers in the front row again."

"That's really good"

"You should take this opportunity to learn more about the British fleet and tactics of war." Franz suggested.

"The British's tactics?" Friedrich's tone was rather disdainful.

"Yes, the tactics of the British Royal Navy, you must know that they have just wiped out the main fleets of the Egyptian and Ottoman navies."

Franz knew that no country at sea could compete with Britain at this time, so he felt that there was nothing wrong with letting the commander-in-chief of his own navy learn the tactics of the British.

"There was no reference value, the Egyptian warships were very poorly made, and the materials used were cheap oak imported from France, most of which were haphazard patchwork of wood, and such ships could be torn apart by two shots from "ship killers", and even larger storms could tear small ships apart. ”

"Whether it is the design of the hull or the sails, there are problems with the design of the ship, and the craftsmen are also extremely careless, often using a few fewer nails or less paint in key places, these seemingly small problems are indeed extremely fatal for the battleship.

Their ships could penetrate the hull with 8-pounder guns and wreak havoc with 12-pounder guns. Even if my ship were fired directly with a sixteen-pounder gun, it might not be able to break the defenses. ”

Friedrich was very proud when he said this, after all, he had a converted steam ironclad in his hand, of course, this ironclad could not be called an ironclad in the strict sense, but a wooden sailing ship with iron plates hanging on both sides of the ship.

"Don't be too proud, knowing yourself and knowing your opponent is the only way to win a hundred battles." Franz said.

Friedrich slapped the table.

"Franz, I tell you, I know their ships better than those Englishmen. I have models of every ship in the Royal Navy and I know how to destroy them. ”

Franz was a little overwhelmed, so he had to spread his hands and show that he had no ill intentions.

In fact, in this era, not only all admirals regard the navy on which the sun never sets, but also regard it as an imaginary enemy.

From the day Friedrich chose the Navy, he never wanted to defeat the British Royal Navy. However, when he found that with the strength of the Austrian Empire, the best result of fighting the British was the total annihilation, and the most rational choice was not to be an enemy of the British.

(End of chapter)