Chapter 1044: The Celebration

  Chapter 1024 The Celebration

The wheel of history rolled forward, not swayed by the will of individuals.

As the birthplace of the economic crisis, Vienna was likewise the first region to get rid of it.

Unlike ordinary industrial cities, Vienna, which is the center of politics, education, scientific research and culture, is much more resistant to risk.

In addition to the stockholders miserable a little bit, the crisis to Vienna brought not much change. The flurry of downtown, not the slightest feeling of depression.

Especially in recent times, with the approach of the National Day, representatives from all over the country gathered, but also added a few points of prosperity.

In order to celebrate the third anniversary of the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire, Franz decided to conduct a grand parade on the national day. It was purely for the sake of celebration, with absolutely no intention of showing off force.

Unlike previous parades, this one was nationwide. Whether it was the far-flung overseas colonies, the fiefdom nobles, or the states on the European continent, all had to send representatives to participate.

The most important thing is that this parade, not from the whole army to select the elite, but Franz randomly selected troops, to Vienna to accept to carry out the review.

There is no way, God Luo below a large number of states, fiefdom nobles is up to five figures, even if it is preferential selection can not be selected.

When it comes to military honor, don’t expect anyone to give in to anyone. If you really want to choose, you can pull the skin to the end of the world.

If before the opening of the colony, there can also be a military competition, or a live military confrontation exercises.

Now, just look at the map of the Divine Law. With this year’s traffic, regional exercises are difficult enough to engage in live military confrontation exercises, afraid that no two or three years can not finish the matter.

In that case, in order to avoid controversy, Franz simply play the lottery, all based on the luck of the draw.

If you want to show your face in front of the whole country, then count on God’s blessing. If God is not on the line, counting on the Emperor’s blessing will be the same.

After all, judging from the final results, the distribution of the selected troops was quite balanced.

Austrian South Seas selected one battalion, Austrian America selected one battalion, Austrian Africa selected four battalions, each state selected a total of three battalions, the central army land, sea and air each three battalions, plus an armored regiment, an artillery regiment, a total of more than twelve thousand people.

It couldn’t be more than that, and if it was more than that, it would be too much to review. Franz didn’t want to wear himself out with a celebration.

Bringing together troops from all over the world was no easy task. The Fourth of July parade was not only to review the troops, but also to show them to the world.

As the newly risen hegemon, since drying up France, apart from interfering in the Philippine War once, Shinra actually hadn’t done anything outside in the past few years.

Such a peaceful overlord, not to say that the countries of the world were not used to it, at least the European countries were really not used to it.

Look at the British, the Philippine War has just ended, turned around and started something in Cuba, this is the professional hegemon.

In this regard, wanting to catch up with the British, the Vienna government still has a long way to go. Judging from the current situation, it is impossible for Franz to do so in his lifetime.

It’s in the political DNA. The thinking of a sea power state and a land power state is inherently different.

Thinking determines action. If possible, Franz would like to just live quietly and uneventfully all the time.

However, the wind does not stop when the trees want to be quiet, the Vienna government did not do anything, a black pot fell from the sky, not even a place to reason.

There were too many suspects to determine who was behind the crime, and the Vienna government naturally could not retaliate.

In order to swear a little existence, there was this third anniversary celebration. Whether the countries were used to it or not, they now had to learn to adapt.

“New Hegemon, new atmosphere.”

Following the example of the British is obviously falling short. If it really caused anger in the heavens and people ended up fighting, Shinra wouldn’t have the Straits to protect it.

The two world wars in the original time and space are still deeply imprinted in Franz’s mind.

Playing PK on the European continent is collective suicide. Winning the proceeds is not enough for military expenses, and losing is even more important to lose the bottom.

……

“Over here, Friedrich.”

“In sight General, I’ll be right over.”

As the voice landed, a young officer weaved his way through the crowd to the plaza below the statue.

Schlieffen laughed and scolded, “Friedrich, you fool. I’ve told you not to fall behind, but you still dare to look around. If you get lost, I’ll be too embarrassed to call the police to help find you.”

It was obvious that Schlieffen still held the young officer in high regard.

Although this parade was drawn by lot, but to be in full view for inspection, who would dare to be sloppy?

If something went wrong, it would be a disgrace in front of the whole world. All the troops that were selected began their drills early.

To be able to finally come to participate in the parade, no matter officers, or soldiers, are after layers of screening, unqualified has long been transferred out.

As the only company in the Kingdom of Prussia to participate in the parade, it is simply all on the officers. The purpose is very simple, is to ask for money.

There is no way, who let the Kingdom of Prussia poor?

Restricted by the lack of finances, the days of the Prussian military in recent years, really is not good.

Even, in the Berlin government some time ago, there was a proposal not to have an army. Although it was stopped by Wilhelm II, this kind of thing has one thing and then another.

The Prussian military is still very crisis-conscious. In order to avoid the day when the Berlin government really did not allocate funds, there was the present trip of this officer corps to Vienna.

After the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, at the same time that the Emperor was taking away the command of the armies of the states, in order to strengthen the control over the armies of the states, the source of military funding for the armies of the states also changed.

Generally speaking, within the establishment permitted by the Emperor, the state armies were able to get 25% to 40% of the military expenses from the central government, and the remaining part was self-financed by the state governments.

Against this background, if the state was rich, the military allocation was sufficient and the army had a good life; if the state was poor, it had to live a hard life.

There is no doubt that the Prussian army has always led a hard life. Since the defeat in the Russo-Prussian War, the Prussian military has never had a good time.

Back in the days of the German Confederation, Prussia was directly faced with the lively military threat of Russia, and the Berlin government naturally had to grit its teeth and hang on for dear life.

In addition, as the federal force bearer, out of national defense and security considerations, other state governments also support a portion of the military expenditure, only barely supported.

After the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire, the central government took on a portion of the military expenses, so it is reasonable to say that their days should be a little better.

Unfortunately, along with the establishment of the Holy Roman, the threat of the Russians no longer existed, and the mental energy of the Berlin government, which was desperately trying to scrape together military spending, disappeared.

After the economic crisis broke out, the Berlin government was financially bankrupt, and it was even proposed that the army should be handed over to the central government in order to reduce the financial pressure on the government.

With the king’s support, the army was retained, but the financial allocations were often delayed.

The bottom line was that the Prussian government really didn’t have the money, not that they didn’t want to give it.

This was awkward. If there was money not to give, then the military naturally have a way to make the Berlin government obedient, but now there is really no money then there is nothing to do.

Fortunately, the central government’s funding is always timely, and with a little saving, it can still be sustained.

In order to save money, the Prussian military also tried to do everything possible, such as retaining the skeleton of the establishment and reducing the number of soldiers.

Unfortunately, the Ministry of War soon found out about these practices, which were clearly suspected of cheating the army.

One plan did not work, but another plan was born.

The Prussian army replaced the soldiers with unpaid conscripts, retaining only a small number of key elite, and focusing mainly on the training of officers.

Unfortunately, although the Prussian military’s plan was good, the emperor did not agree.

Franz not only issued a stern warning to the Prussian military for this practice, which could obviously affect the combat effectiveness of the troops, but also demoted the relevant personnel en masse.

Demotion was a minor issue, but the key was that the issue of military expenditure had not been resolved. Although the Emperor personally asked and urged the Berlin government to allocate military funds on time, money was needed to do so.

In the past, there was no problem with borrowing money for military expenses. But not now, the Berlin government was tugging at the British over debt restructuring, and the government had already declared bankruptcy.

Not only was the military spending in arrears, but also the salaries of government officials, including the king’s annuity and the prime minister’s salary, had not been paid.

With the entire government fighting for the country, it was natural for the military not to drag their feet at this time. No matter how difficult it was, they still had the military funds allocated by the central government, and they were not yet starving.

Obviously, trying to get the British debtors to compromise is not an easy task. This protest of playing dead is expected to go on for a long time.

After all this, the Prussian military can kind of see that even if the debt restructuring negotiations are successful, the poor Berlin government can’t be counted on in a short period of time.

Want to solve the problem of military spending, or can only reach out to the emperor.

After all, the annual military budget of the Shen Luo Empire is as high as hundreds of millions of divine guilders, while the annual expenses of the Prussian army is only more than four million divine guilders, accounting for only about one-thirtieth of the total.

As long as the Emperor slightly tilted when allocating military expenses, their funding gap was made up.

If they wanted to obtain a tilt in military expenses, they naturally had to prove their worth to the Emperor first. This military parade was their chance to show themselves.

Purely displaying the soldiers obviously didn’t work. Soldiers who were able to appear at the parade were definitely the best of the best.

Even though the Prussian army was well-trained, it was still impossible to stand out on the parade ground.

Ordinary soldiers, the Emperor would not be interested in, but troops that trained soldiers into officers would definitely be able to catch the Emperor’s eye.

No matter if the plan was reliable or not, there was always an effort to try. Otherwise, with modernized military technology advancing so fast, the Prussian army with insufficient military spending would soon fall behind.

As for handing over the defense security to the central government and letting the South Mountain go and farming in peace, other states might be able to think this way, but it was absolutely impossible in Prussia.

Although the Russo-Prussian War broke the backbone of the Prussian Kingdom, the spirit of defiance was still retained in the army.

To this day, “revenge” is still the driving force of the Prussian military struggle. It is only in view of the disparity in strength between the two sides that they were forced to hold back and secretly prepare for the war.

In the previous wars against France, the Prussian army performed so well that after the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire, it was still able to keep four infantry divisions, which was the first of many small states.

Of course, this was also the result of the other states not fighting as hard as they could. After all, it was only Prussia that wanted to take revenge on the Russians and regain lost ground.

Despite the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire, according to tradition: the hatred of the states is not equal to the hatred of the empire; the war of the states is not equal to the war of the empire.

If it’s a foreign invasion, the central government naturally has to step in; if you run off and invade someone on your own, there are consequences.

Similar cases, in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, appeared in no way less than three digits.

In the Prussian-Russian conflict, as long as the Russians did not take the initiative to invade, the government in Vienna did not have to bear any responsibility or obligation to Prussia.

Wanting revenge, the Kingdom of Prussia had to go it alone. Theoretically, the number of armies of each state was freely determined.

Only the troops that were beyond the establishment, the central government did not need to share the military expenses, but still had to accept the command of the Emperor.

Without the support of the central government, the poor Prussian kingdom, naturally, did not have the capital to take revenge on the Russians. Even though the military was still nostalgic, the Berlin government had long since given up these unrealistic fantasies.

An open secret is not a secret, and the Prussian military’s secret maneuvers naturally could not be hidden from Franz’s eyes.

Only they have always operated within the rules, as the emperor is not good to interfere.

After all, the Prussian military’s “revenge plan” only stays in the stage of “thinking”, and has not taken substantive action.

In any case, there are only a few infantry divisions, even if the training is no matter how elite, it will not constitute a threat to the central government, but an additional useful fighter.

Friedrich replied gravely, “Don’t worry, General. I can’t lose it. There were merely too many people just now to notice you leaving.”

Schlieffen nodded and did not say anything else. Unlike the curiosity of the younger officers, it was the older Prussian officers who had the most complicated feelings towards the Holy Roman Empire.

As the Lord who personally experienced the two Russo-Prussian wars, Schlieffen had witnessed the decline of the Kingdom of Prussia and the revival of the Holy Roman Empire.

Once upon a time, Schlieffen had also taken the unification of the German region and the establishment of Greater Prussia as his mission.

Germany was indeed unified, but not by Prussia. Instead the greatest contribution the Kingdom of Prussia made to the unification process was its own decline.

Along with the decline of the Prussian Kingdom, the second largest state, there was no more state in the German region that had the strength to fight against Austria, and the internal conflict in the German region was then eliminated.

(End of chapter)