The disturbing international situation did not affect the outbreak of the war in Central Asia. With the end of the arms race, the British also let go of their hands and feet.

On March 26, 1888, at the behest of Governor Lytton, two Indian colonial divisions launched an attack on Afghanistan, opening the prelude to the Central Asian War.

At the Vienna Palace, after receiving the news of the start of the war in Afghanistan, Franz once again became a melon eater.

Worries are non-existent, and if you look at the way the British play, you can see that the bureaucrats in London do not take Afghanistan seriously at all.

The two Indian colonial divisions, which seem to be mighty, are actually a rabble.

In terms of real combat effectiveness, I am afraid it is not comparable to the two main regiments of the British army. Such a unit can barely maintain law and order, and when it is put on the battlefield, it can only compare with the enemy.

Franz asked, "Is there any weaponry to help the Afghans?" ”

If you want to use the war in Afghanistan to bleed the British, weapons and equipment are still indispensable.

Without international aid, the Afghans, armed with broadswords and spears, would not have lasted long, no matter how brave they were.

Foreign Secretary Wesenberg: "The first shipment has been secretly delivered, and in terms of time, the Afghan government should have already distributed it."

Our intelligence network in Afghanistan is not perfect, and since the outbreak of the war, we have been completely blind, and we have no idea what is going on there. ”

This is an inevitable result, not to mention the imperfection of the intelligence network, even if all Afghans are turned into intelligence officers, there is no way to get the news out.

The British diplomatic means are not boasting, the neighbors of Afghanistan have already pulled up the blockade line, and the only external means of contact is smuggling.

Smuggling channels have also proved unsuitable for the transmission of intelligence.

Both Persia and the Central Asian khanates were poor, and most of the region had neither railways nor telegraphs.

Before the outbreak of the war, the Vienna government received news from Afghanistan with a lag of more than a week. After the outbreak of war, not to mention.

Hearing this bad news, Franz frowned: "In other words, we have lost contact with the Afghan government."

The empty supplies that were originally planned have now lost the possibility of implementation because they have lost their goals. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Wessenberg replied.

"As things stand, we can only hope for the Russians to reconnect with the Afghan government.

They have been operating in the local area for a long time, and there should be hidden messaging channels. Now it is only affected by the war, and it has been temporarily interrupted.

The tsarist government is trying to find a way to recover, and it may be able to recover after a while. ”

The answer of "pinning hope on the Russians" and "recovering after a while" made Franz directly dismiss the idea of empty supplies.

Although Afghanistan is a small country, its territory is not small at all, and it is mostly mountainous.

If there is no receiving signal from below, who knows where it will be handed over, and how will the airship soldiers airdrop supplies?

You can't throw it around, throw it into the deep mountains and old forests, rivers and lakes, and the big deal is to lose a batch of materials.

If it was bad luck and it happened to fall on the head of the British army and become the captain of the transport brigade, it would be embarrassing.

After pondering for a moment, Franz made a decision: "Forget it, if something like this happens, it can only be considered bad luck for the Afghan government."

Didn't they send liaison officers and let them find a way to get in touch with the country on their own, and there is nothing we can do now. ”

Worry?

What does not exist, even if the Afghan government falls, there are Russians who will make up for it.

Besides, even if the British were victorious, what could they do?

It was not a good thing to occupy a place full of guerrillas and religious fanatics, and the high cost of rule would sooner or later make the British realize.

War Chancellor Fislav proposed: "Your Majesty, our troops stationed in the colonies have not changed their weapons and equipment for many years.

In view of the current serious international situation, we must prepare in advance, and the War Department proposed a major rearmament to increase the defense capability of the colonies first. ”

Fislav's words reminded Franz that although the colonial armies of various countries in those years were all second- and third-rate troops, recruiting the poorest soldiers, holding the most outdated weapons, and conducting the simplest training, Austria was an exception.

The colonial army was only a little backward in weapons and equipment, and in other respects it was still on par with the main forces in the country.

A few years ago, the Vienna government also sent the main force out to conduct rotational combat exercises.

It was only later, when the enemies in the colony were eliminated, that this actual combat training program was forced to be terminated.

In normal times, it is not a problem for the colonial troops to maintain their current state.

The equipment is almost bad, anyway, the colonial armies of all countries are worse than each other, as long as they are stronger than their peers.

Now that the international situation has changed, no one can guarantee when the gun will go wrong.

In this context, it is all the more important to increase the strength of the colonies.

Especially in Austrian Africa, once the European war breaks out, they are not expected to seize the whole of Africa at once, but they must take strategic places such as Egypt, the Cape of Good Hope, and Djibouti.

This was the core of Austria's national policy from the beginning, and it took these important places, not only connecting the mainland with Africa, but also running tens of thousands of kilometers more than Britain and France into the Indian Ocean.

The original time to run two routes is now only enough to run once, which not only greatly increases the cost of transportation, but also means that the enemy's sea transportation capacity has been discounted.

"Not only do we have to change our outfits, but we also have to increase the weapons stockpiles of the colonies. In Austrian Africa, for example, there should be enough ammunition to arm a million men for a year.

Once the European War broke out, the colonies had to be prepared to seize the entire African continent on their own. ”

It's not that Franz has a big appetite, it's that Austrian Africa already has such strength.

Today, the total population of Austrian Africa is more than 20 million, several times more than the immigrants of the other colonial empires combined.

As soon as a big war broke out, it was doomed to attack on all sides. Even if the Viennese government did not give the order, the local military nobles would pull their own troops to do it.

The belligerent nature has been implanted in everyone's bone marrow since the opening of Austrian Africa.

If the conditions had not allowed it, the Vienna government would have deliberately suppressed it, and they would have caused friction in Africa a long time ago.

If there are conditions, it is stupid not to take advantage of it, not to mention taking the entire African continent, as long as it takes a few important places, Austria will win the game.

Prime Minister Karl questioned: "Your Majesty, this is too much, isn't it?" Several of our important colonies have very strong military forces, which are simply not something that can be shaken by neighboring countries.

Even if the European War broke out, the strength of Austrian Africa would be enough to deal with any enemy. Now the delivery of so many weapons and equipment to the colonies can easily trigger international tensions. ”

The weapons and equipment of a million people fighting for a year is not a star and a half, if you want to calculate it in units, it is - one million tons.

With so many supplies being shipped, it was almost impossible to keep it a secret. These days, who doesn't plant a few spies on the other side!

If important military intelligence can't be detected, who can be deceived by this kind of shipload of munitions?

Franz nodded, this is indeed a problem. Not to mention transportation, the organization of production alone can attract the attention of the European world.

"Then it will be carried out in batches, first in the name of changing equipment, and then in the future, when replenishing supplies, a part will be added. The more times it is, the less eye-catching it is.

This war in Central Asia is the best cover. Ordered the state-owned arsenal to double its weapons production capacity from now on, announcing that it was an order from the Russians.

Don't release specific figures, arsenals are scattered all over the country, and ordinary people will not pay attention to them. ”

The advantage of SOEs is that the government can control production capacity without disclosing any information to the outside world.

How many weapons and ammunition were produced and how much were exported, as long as the Vienna government itself does not say anything, no one knows at all.

Even if someone investigates, it is necessary to investigate all the arsenals together to get accurate figures, and it is meaningless to investigate the data of one or two arsenals separately.

It is not Franz who boasted that it is impossible for the outside world to know how many arsenals there are in Austria and how many enterprises have military production capacity.

The reason is very simple, there are too many related businesses. Many machine factories can be turned into military factories as long as they modify their production equipment.

Anyway, it's all streamlined construction, and you don't need to produce all the spare parts, as long as you can produce a part of it.

Put together the parts that everyone has produced, and a weapon is born.

The current military factories just have a relatively complete industrial chain and do not need to buy spare parts everywhere.

From beginning to end, the accessories produced by a company will naturally be more advantageous when assembling, and the quality will be relatively guaranteed.

But when it came to the war years, these were minor problems. In many cases, quantity is more important than quality, as long as it can be used, and a few flaws are not worth mentioning at all.