Chapter 323: Gatling.
Chapter 313: Gatling
In 1859 the British occupied Queensland and the whole of Australia fell under British colonial rule.
Watching the British occupy the Gold Coast, Franz could only look at the ocean. For Austria, Australia was simply too far away to be contested.
The only people in the world who had the strength to compete with the British for Australia were the French, and it was clear that Napoleon III had no interest in exiling the continent.
The French were not idle either, constantly stepping up their infiltration of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and most of the areas bordering France were already under the control of the French army.
The number of peacekeeping troops was limited, and the troops promised by the countries were not delivered in time, only the Turin area was controlled.
For the infiltration of the French, in addition to the British with a group of juniors in the appeal, the whip of the Russians to do the eating crowd, the Austrians are busy catching the murderer, the actions of the French army does not pay attention to.
The government in London was furious, but unfortunately it was also busy suppressing the Indian rebellion and could not devote more energy to intervening.
The French government was pro-British, but that was based on the premise that there was no conflict of interest. The Kingdom of Sardinia is a piece of fat meat, and there is not much risk.
The opportunity to expand its territory in the European continent is too rare, and once this opportunity is missed, Napoleon III may not be able to encounter it again in his lifetime.
As for the problem of offending the British, Britain and France’s hundred-year feud is not a joke, still afraid to add another one?
Now they are just nibbling, did not swallow the Kingdom of Sardinia in one bite, even if it is to the British to save face.
European expansion at the same time, the French also stepped up the expansion of the African continent, such as the invasion of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and other regions.
At the end of 1859, unwilling to decline Spain sent 50,000 troops to invade Morocco, captured the Toon approaching Tangier, in the British mediation between the two countries signed the Treaty of Tak Toon.
In contrast, Austria behaved quite peacefully in this year, of course, the colonies still expanded some, but they were all normal advances, no major military operations.
The biggest action was probably the frantic sending of immigrants to the Americas.
It is worth mentioning that Franz had three state funerals within this year, two of which were of the highest caliber.
First, Marshal Radetzky died, followed by Metternich’s death, and then Marshal Julius followed him to God.
Marshal Radetzky was, to put it mildly, highly respected, and there were no objections to a state funeral for him.
Metternich’s political career was marred by the Vienna Rebellion of 1848, and the fact that he had offended many people over the years of his rule.
When he was alive, these people did not dare to make a fuss, but after his death, many people jumped out. Find a bunch of reasons, think he is not worthy of the highest specification of the state funeral.
There is no doubt that this little storm can not affect Franz’s resolution, strong suppressed the voice of opposition.
No matter how much the government publicizes, the reputation of Marshal Julius as a butcher can not be washed away, and the suppression of the rebellion decimated the rebel party, offending even more people.
After the announcement of the state funeral, there were also marches in protest. No doubt these people got the concept wrong and ended up being thrown in jail to reflect.
Giving high profile treatment to Marshal Julius was done by Franz for everyone to see. The purpose was to tell everyone that as long as they were working for him, even if they messed up their reputation, he, the emperor, would protect them all the same.
In this context, the fools who jumped out to mess things up, naturally had to be unlucky.
Illegal conspiracy, mobbing, disrupting public order, endangering public safety …… of society
This series of charges added up to enough for a dozen years of reflection in prison. This is similar to life imprisonment, and more than ninety percent of people in current conditions will not survive more than ten years in prison.
People who follow the hilarity are also criticized and educated, fined, and sentenced to prison if the situation is serious.
Those who accept money or property from others and accept employment to participate in the parade face high fines and more than a year in prison.
And yes, there are profit deals for parades. Many parades, because they don’t attract enough people to participate, organizers hire ordinary people to participate.
For this kind of behavior, Franz is cracking down hard.
Directly in the law to make explicit provisions, punishable by a fine of one thousand times the illegal profits, depending on the circumstances of the case in more than one year of correctional labor.
The organization or individual who paid for the hiring, multiplied by ten on top of that.
In order to combat the manipulation of politics by the consortium, Franz is also worried, targeted laws are added from time to time.
Now is the period of severe punishment, for the plot is not serious criminals, basically will be exiled. And all serious criminals over three years old will be sentenced to serve their sentences in the road-building army.
The punishment is so heavy during the period of crackdown. Catching up can only be counted as your bad luck, who made you want to make things happen at this time?
The constitution hadn’t come out yet, but everyone already knew that organizations and people with any criminal records were deprived of their right to participate in the government.
When it comes to cracking down on his enemies, Franz is anything but soft. In this great age of rapid change, Franz was very skeptical that Austria would be able to withstand the onslaught if strict order was not established.
……
The maid Jenny softly said, “Your Majesty, the arsenal has sent another sample machine gun, please take a look at it.”
Franz calmly said, “Good, arrange to test the gun tomorrow.”
Machine guns have been around for a long time, in 1851 the Belgian engineer Gatling designed the world’s first machine gun, but unfortunately the practical combat value of this machine gun was too low.
The introduction of the Gatling machine gun immediately drew Franz’s attention and ordered the arsenal to develop and improve it.
Four or five generations of the Gatling machine gun were developed. The designers had a big brainstorm and came up with more than thirty models of machine guns with different shapes.
However, none of these machine guns could satisfy Franz. It wasn’t that he was demanding, it was that these guns were too pitiful.
How can you use a machine gun that jams when you move it? Who can move a machine gun that weighs 1.5 tons? Who can afford to use a machine gun that costs tens of thousands of guilders?
In short, Franz’s imagined good quality and low price could not be achieved. These machine guns can barely be used to defend the stronghold, because the corner is not enough, can only be fixed in one direction to hit.
That’s how it is in new technology development. You don’t even have a frame of reference, so you have to feel your way around. The Maxim machine gun that Franz wanted is not even in sight.
The Gatling machine gun is almost transformed, in the African colonies of real combat testing, barely met the requirements of real combat.
The main reason for not mounting it in the army is that the armies of various countries are not equipped with machine guns, and now it is a peaceful era not in a hurry.
Franz also want to wait and see if there is a better performance machine gun appeared. You know that the lightest machine gun now, there are several hundred pounds, to be pulled by a car.
The cost of changing armies is very high, and many countries are so behind in weaponry that it’s not that government bureaucrats don’t realize it, but they simply can’t afford to change.
In this era, weapons and equipment replacement is very fast, just replaced the new type of weapons, after a few years behind.
If you are unlucky, it is possible that just after the replacement is completed, more advanced equipment has come out again.
What should we do?
If you don’t change, you’ll fall behind, and if you change again, your finances won’t be able to take it.
Besides, even if we change, who can guarantee that more advanced weapons will not appear again?
In this case, it’s time to test everyone’s judgment.
(End of chapter)