Chapter 1131: A Difficult Choice

  Chapter 1110 A Difficult Choice

International military purchase orders have never been full of various pits, if you don’t set aside a few incremental payment items, it must not be a qualified arms dealer.

Comparatively speaking, the Vienna government this seller has been very conscientious, did not make things happen on the blimp, even spare parts are given away a whole lot.

However, no matter how conscientious, it is inevitable to open up subsidiary add-on business, and this time is no exception.

Facts have proved that the transportation airship is not just a large capacity on the line, but also need security.

In the face of enemy aircraft, the survivability of the transportation blimp is too low, and must be escorted by fighters.

Unfortunately, the poor than the Russian government, can not afford to play the air force this kind of high new product. Only one to support the appearance of the flying formation outside, simply can not afford to escort the heavy responsibility.

If not the opposite side of the Japanese army is also poor than, the number of aircraft equipment is also scarce, the Russian army would have suffered a big loss.

Now the big loss is not how to eat, but the front line of the transport airships have been shot down two, so that the airship transport fleet are forced to suspend business.

Since ancient times, “from frugality to luxury is easy, from luxury to frugality is difficult”. The Russian army was no exception.

When there is no airship transportation fleet, we do not have any feeling, and now there is, and suddenly can not be used, the front-line officers naturally can not sit still.

To know since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian army was suppressed by the Japanese, until the smuggling trade flourished, as well as the airship transport fleet to join the trend of decadence was reversed.

The good times didn’t last more than a few days, and now that they’ve been cut off again, the Russian Army’s top brass naturally can’t stand it.

Affected by the butterfly effect, in recent decades Russia that is a big war constantly, even with the level of officers have pulled up a notch.

Whether it is the level of professional knowledge, or combat experience, are much richer than the original time and space.

In order to solve the problem once and for all, the Russian military command in the Far East decided to seize the right to control the air, and formulated a perfect battle plan, and now just missing the air force.

Theoretically, the Russian Empire is also capable of building fighter planes, and has a number of high-performance “self-developed” products.

In theory, it should give priority to its own companies. Unfortunately, these “superior products” have various shortcomings.

Not only spare parts have to be imported, even the production and assembly, have to seek foreign large factories OEM.

There is no way to make money in the business of people grabbing, losing money in the business of no one asked.

The tsarist government is poor, can not afford to build large-scale air force, civilian and no popularity, naturally, no one invested in aircraft production factories, even assembly plants.

The so-called domestic production, but also the production of a pie-in-the-sky designers, and even if the design is not their own are not sure.

Without any surprise, as one of the quasi-industrialized countries, the Russian Empire is likewise a cottage industry.

Only others are optimizing product performance, or reducing production costs, or modifying according to local cultural habits and aesthetics.

The Russian business community is different. First of all, performance is not the first pursuit; to facilitate people’s lives, is also not the main goal; optimize product performance, that is even more do not expect.

The notion of “build is better than buy” has been deeply rooted in people’s minds for a long time, and if it were not for the purpose of cheating subsidies from the Tzarist government, or to obtain preferential policies, no one would have gone into industry at all.

In this context, everyone’s pursuit is limited to the ability to produce products, and nothing else matters.

It’s not that people didn’t pursue it, but the main reason was that the industrial support system couldn’t keep up, and the quality of labor was also dragging its feet.

Not to mention high-tech spare parts, even the slightly higher precision requirements of the screws, all need to be imported. It’s not that we can’t produce them, but the rate of finished products is too touching.

This is also the origin of the Russian manufacturing “stupid black thick”. It’s not that people want to play like this, but they really can’t make refined products.

In order to ensure normal use, can only make sacrifices in other areas, so the performance is not to be expected, the only commendable advantage is the leather durable.

However, this advantage has great limitations, limited to ordinary daily industrial products, does not apply to any high-precision products.

Airplanes such high-tech products, that is not to mention, Russia can produce only the first generation of wooden airplanes.

The most popular international airplanes have now transitioned to metal alloys, and none of the core technologies can be handled by Russia.

If you want to produce your own, you will have to import all the spare parts. I can’t guarantee the performance, but the cost is definitely going up.

Now is a time of war, obviously not the time to swell the face. Instead of forcing the domestic fighter aircraft which is not sure of anything, it is better to directly outsource the finished fighter aircraft.

At least the mainstream warplanes equipped by the Shen Luo Air Force are produced in hundreds or thousands, and have also experienced the test of time.

His right hand gently tapped the seat a few times, Nicholas II frowned and asked: ”How many fighters are planned to be purchased? How much budget is needed? How will the aircrews be taken care of?”

Time is the best teacher, more than ten years of imperial career down, Nicholas II is not the former pink boy.

Perhaps there was still a distance to go before becoming a good monarch, but basic common sense things were now impossible to muddle through.

As a matter of fact, the issue of procuring warplanes was not the first thing the Tsarist government had discussed.

The importance of air power was self-evident, and no one would give it up if it could be grasped in their hands. Only in the end, for various reasons, it was not settled.

Knowing that there are difficulties, and now the issue is still being raised again, the military naturally has to come up with a plan to deal with it.

Army Minister Evgeny: “According to intelligence from the front, we need at least hundreds of fighters to seize air control.

Considering that the international situation is now tense, the Anglo-Austrian war may break out at any time, and that we won’t be able to replenish them for a long time in the future after this purchase, we’re going to set up an air force division modeled after the Shinra Air Force establishment.

Calculating the reserve war damage, we need to purchase a total of 400 fighters, and the approximate purchase budget is between 30 million and 50 million divine guilders.

The exact figure can only be determined after formal negotiations. In the field of aviation, Shinra has an absolute advantage, even the British are an era behind.

With Japan’s industrial strength, it’s not easy to send the airplanes produced into the sky, and it’s not even possible to talk about performance.

To deal with them, it would be enough for us to buy Shinra’s nearly retired second-hand fighter planes. Not only can we save costs, but we can also get them in stock in the shortest possible time.

As for the crew, we had commissioned Shinra to help train a batch after the war broke out. After half a year of training, they are now barely serviceable as well.”

(Remarks: The Holy Roman Empire Air Force Division has 3 regiments, each with 3 flight brigades and an aircraft brigade, and each brigade consists of 3 flight squadrons with 8 fighters per flight squadron. The total number of fighters in the division is 288, and the total number of flight crews and ground crews is more than 5,000.)
The tone was thick with disdain, and it was easy to see how much Evgeny despised Japan. Even though the Russian Empire was not much better, the superiority in his bones could not be hidden.

For all this, the crowd did not feel strange. It was normal to despise the Japanese, and it would be really problematic if Japan was treated on an equal footing.

From the program, it could be seen that the Russian army had really improved. If put aside a few decades ago, that custody is “headache, treat the headache, foot”, it is impossible to prepare in advance.

War has just broken out, the organization of personnel sent out for training, so forward-looking approach, obviously different from the Maoists in the past rough.

Just Nicholas II did not feel happy, but in the depths of his heart emerged a kind of despair.

A little dissection of Evgeny’s words showed that the Russian army was too dependent on Shinra. If one day the two countries flipped out, I’m afraid that the Russian army’s combat power would immediately be greatly reduced.

Knowing that, but now that the Russo-Japanese War had broken out, it was impossible for Nicholas II to discard advanced equipment and not use it just to get rid of his dependence on Shinra.

Procurement of warplanes is just, counting the recent decades of foreign wars, each war is inevitably imported arms from next door.

The problem is that the current purchase is still second-hand goods, would have lost the face of the Russian Empire, I did not expect the military actually can say so frankly, which makes Nicholas II upset.

Not happy to be unhappy, but now the Russian Empire needs to hurry. Not to mention the urgency of the war on the front line, just look at the international situation.

Along with the deterioration of the relationship between Shinra and Britain, the international situation has become tense, and the whole world can smell the smell of gunpowder.

If we don’t reach a military purchase agreement as soon as possible and complete the arms deal, when the two countries officially break out into war, even if we have money in our pockets, we may not be able to buy it.

The only thing that can be delivered in the shortest possible time is second-hand equipment. If you really want to place an order directly to the arsenal, without a few months time, it is impossible to handle.

Fortunately, Nicholas II does not know the real situation, if he found out that the Russian army is nearly a colorful second-hand equipment, it is estimated that the volcano will really erupt.

In a sense, there is nothing wrong with second-hand equipment. Not only is the price cheaper, but more importantly, the performance is reliable.

These days there were a lot of things that the international arms dealers pitched people against. If you don’t keep a few traps, you’re embarrassed to call yourself an arms dealer.

Ever since the British got off to a bad start, everyone’s modesty has plummeted, for example: before exporting state-of-the-art weapons, they cut down on some of their performance.

And still, the more advanced the weaponry, the more it is crippled, the more it can be considered a high-fashion imitation at best.

But no matter how high imitation, the fake is still not real. If on the battlefield, the imitation meets the genuine, that is a minute to tragedy.

The Russian army’s large-scale use of second-hand equipment, naturally, is not because they like it, but more or the officers and soldiers are scared by the domestic bureaucrats.

There is no way, the collusion of the government and the businessmen, the quality of the domestic weapons is not good, that is not to be expected.

In contrast, the second-hand equipment purchased directly from Shen Luo is much more reliable. Not only is the performance not censored, even the quality is time-tested.

“Then let’s do it!”

Nicholas II replied flatly. Everyone could see that His Majesty the Tsar was not in high spirits right now.

But no mood is no mood, political affairs must still be dealt with. Especially at such a critical moment, there was no room for passivity.

Foreign Minister Mikhailovich opened his mouth and said: “Along with the intensification of the conflict between Britain and Austria, the situation in Europe has become more and more tense these days.

In order to avoid taking sides again, European countries have come forward to call for peace, in which the Netherlands, Portugal and other coastal countries have been the most active.

As of now, we have received notes from eleven countries, hoping that we can take the lead and remain neutral in order to avoid being involved in a hegemonic war.

Considering the complexity of the situation and the fact that it’s hard for us to straighten it out for a while, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t give a direct response.”

It’s not good to be the leading brother, European countries don’t want to be involved in the war, but none of them have come out to be the head of the pack, which in itself can explain a lot of things.

Now the situation is very obvious, it is clear that whoever first ventures out, who will have to bear most of the firepower.

If it was thirty years ago, encountered such a good opportunity, do not even have to think about it, Mikhailovich will be a mouth to answer.

But now it was different, although the strength of the Russian Empire was growing, its reliance on Shinra was unabated.

Especially with the ongoing Russo-Japanese War, the support of the Vienna government was still needed. One couldn’t stab at others while seeking support from them, could one?

Not being in line with the countries was likewise a big trouble. Without the Russian Empire taking the lead in organizing, the so-called joint neutrality of all countries was a big joke.

For no other reason, the political and military pressure exerted by Shinra and Britannia, someone had to step in and carry it off, right?

Other than the Russian Empire, who could bear this pressure?

Even Spain, because of its own lack of strength, was equally unable to bear this burden.

Other countries, not to mention, if they do not have enough strength, and nonsense to get involved in the matter, that will need to pay a price.

No one dares to lead the trouble, then stand in line is imperative.

In this context, the position of the Russian Empire is crucial, the choice of European countries almost have a weathervane role.

If the Tsarist government supported the Holy Roman Empire, then it meant that there was no great war on the European continent. It was just a matter of everyone following the flag waving, and there was no need to mix with the British at all.

On the contrary, if the tsarist government supported Britain, then the war was a joint decision between land and sea, and was considered a real uncertain future.

After sighing, Nicholas II stood up from his seat, and after wandering around the room for a few steps, he said helplessly, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will see to it! Anyway, we have no other choice now, don’t we?
Utilize this opportunity as much as possible to gain greater benefits for the empire, I’m afraid we won’t have the chance in the future.”

Reality is so cruel, the Russian Empire, which is deeply bound by Shinra, has no choice but to follow Vienna’s path.

(End of chapter)